ACC: Sample Expressions to Extract Portion of Text String

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SUMMARY

This article lists sample expressions that you can use to extract a portion of a text string. These expressions are commonly used in the Update To line of an update query to place a portion of a larger field into a new field. You can adapt these expressions for use with other common formats. For example, the expression you would use to extract "Doe" from "Doe, John" you can also use to extract "Seattle" from "Seattle, WA."

MORE INFORMATION

The following expressions are sample expressions that you can use to extract a portion of a text string.

NOTE: In the following sample expressions, an underscore (_) at the end of a line is used as a line-continuation character. Remove the underscore from the end of the line when re-creating the expression.

First Name

Original Entry in [Names]: "John Doe"
Returned by Expression: John
Expression: Expr: Left([Names],InStr(1,[Names]," ")-1)

First Name

Orignial Entry in [Names]: "Doe, John"
Returned by Expression: John
Expression: Expr: Right(Trim([Names]),Len(Trim([Names]))-InStr(1, _
[Names]," "))

First Name

Original Entry in [Names]: "John P. Doe"
Returned by Expression: John
Expression: Expr: Left([Names],InStr(1,[Names]," ")-1)

Last Name

Original Entry in [Names]: = "John Doe"
Returned by Expression: Doe
Expression:Expr: Right(Trim([Names]),Len(Trim([Names]))-InStr(1, _
[Names]," "))

Last Name

Original Entry in [Names]: "Doe, John"
Returned by Expression: Doe
Expression: Expr: Left([Names],InStr(1,[Names],",")-1)

Last Name

Original Entry in [Names]: "John P. Doe"
Returned by Expression: Doe
Expression: Expr: Right(Trim([Names]),Len(Trim([Names]))-InStr(InStr _
(1, [Names]," ")+1,[Names]," "))

Last Name

Original Entry in [Names]: "John Doe" or "John P. Doe"
Returned by Expression: Doe
Expression: Expr: IIf(InStr(InStr([Names]," ")+1,[Names]," ") _
<>0, Right([names],Len([names])-InStr(InStr([Names]," ")+1, _
[Names]," ")),Right([Names],Len([Names])-InStr([Names]," ")))

Middle Initial

Original Entry in [Names]: "John P. Doe"
Returned by Expression: P.
Expression Expr: Trim(Mid([Names],InStr(1,[Names]," ")+1,InStr(InStr _
(1, [Names], " ")+1,[Names]," ")-InStr(1,[Names]," ")))

Middle Initial

Original Entry in [Names]: "Doe, John P."
Returned by Expression: P.
Expression: Expr: Right(Trim([Names]),Len(Trim([Names]))-InStr _
(InStr(1, [Names]," ")+1,[Names]," "))

Zip Code

Original Entry in [ZipCode]: "98052-6399"
Returned by Expression: 98052
Expression: Expr: Left([ZipCode],5)

Area Code

Original Entry in [Phone]: (425) 635-7050
Returned by Expression: 425
Expression: Expr: Mid([Phone], 2, 3)

Phone Number

Original Entry in [Phone]: (425) 635-7050
Returned by Expression: 635-7050
Expression: Expr: Right(Trim([Phone]),8)

For more sample expressions, see the Neatcode.mdb sample databases. For details on how to obtain these databases, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

148287 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/148287/EN-US/ ) ACC2: Neatcod2.mdb Available in Download Center

148402 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/148402/EN-US/ ) ACC95: Neatcode.mdb Available in Download Center

177972 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177972/EN-US/ ) ACC97: Neatcd97.mdb Available in Download Center

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Access 1.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 1.1 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 2.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

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This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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