tableField . . . refering to columns

[Richmond]

So: I have a "^" delimited textFile (.CSV) that I imported into a 
conventional textField ("fPRE")
and then tried to do this:

on mouseUp
    set the itemDelimiter to "^"
    put line 1 of fld "fPRE" into PREE1
    put item 1 of PREE1 into column 1 of line 1 of fld "fTF"
end mouseUp

line 1 if fld "fPRE" contains this "2^45^9^1113"

I wonder why this throws a "bluey":

button "Button": compilation error at line 4 (Handler: bad command) near 
"1", char 30

OR . . . to put things another way: How does one refer to columns in a 
tableField?

Richmond.