> S = 'select locn10 from bd10p where area10 = '||''''||:AREA||'''';

Well, you could at least simplify a tiny bit:

S = 'select locn10 from bd10p where area10 = '''||:AREA||'''';

I vaguely remember a select that should create another statement, to get two single quotes I think we had to do something like:

S = 'select ''select '''''''' from MyTable;'';';

(It is not the true select, I think the double level select was due to having to select table and field names from the system tables.)

HTH,
Set