Question about saving string values to MD $ arrays

Firstly I am a beginner so forgive my ignorance of some of the finer points of qbasic

I am writing a program that requires saving data to a multidimensional array

The data is read in and an input statement captures the change to the given column.


so the array is a string array and saves multiple types of data

the first input statement captures a number, and changes it correctly

however the second input statement captures a description of the item, but I am confused on what I need to change, here is my code.

1:
PRINT
INPUT "Enter new upc code"; hold
wally$(1, save) = STR$(hold)
RETURN
(WORKS)
2:
PRINT
INPUT "Enter new item description"; hold
wally$(2, save) = STR$(hold)
RETURN
(DOESN'T WORK)

I have tried to change the hold to a string value, and it allows me to use alphabetical characters for the input however I keep getting a change of 0 in the array. I am confused on how to make sure to capture the input and save it to the corresponding column.

I also tried changing STR$(hold) to STR$(hold$) but it keeps giving me a "Number required for function" error, what does this mean?

Thank you for reading this, I can supply any additional information upon request.