SOLVED: SQL 2.10.03 problem: cannot UPDATE table

I wrote: >A user wants to delete a row from a table. The query: > >delete from ft >where entry_name = "P90589";> >dies with: > >263: Could not lock row for UPDATE.> >There is no possibility the table or row is being used by anyone >else. A number of other rows have been deleted from the same table >without incident. We've tried emptying the lock file. No luck. Turns out that some of the rows cannot be deleted with such a query because they have imbedded double quotes. Sorry, Informix, but this and accompanying error messages were not helpful in finding the cause of the problem. There are only two columns in this table, entry_name and comments, and doing this worked: delete from ft where entry_name = "P90589" and comments matches '*"*'; delete from ft where entry_name = "P90589"; We had to do this for each entry_name where the entry_name was marked for deletion. Thanks to those who replied. Charleen