Sample expressions to extract portion of a text string (286238)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Office Access 2003
- Microsoft Access 2002
This article was previously published under Q286238 Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.
For a Microsoft Access 2000 version of this article, see 209045.
For a Microsoft Access 97 version of this article, see 115915.
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 so that you can use them with other common formats. For example, you can use the expression that is used to extract "Doe" from "Doe, John" 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]," ")) Middle Initial
Original Entry in [Names]: "John Doe" or "John P. Doe"
Returned by Expression: P. or blank
Expression: Expr: Trim(Mid([names], InStr(1, [names], " ") + 1, IIf(InStr(InStr(1, [names], " ") + 1, [names], " ") = 0, 0, InStr(InStr(1, [names], " ") + 1, [names], " ") - InStr(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)
| Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 6/7/2004 |
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| Keywords: | kbhowto KB286238 |
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