I have a lot of "Or"s in my query. I know there must be an easier way to write this, but I'm too new to this stuff. I was able to save the query, but now I can't go back in to design view because it says I have exceeded the 1024 character limit. It just takes me to the SQL code (see below). I suppose that I could split it in to two different queries and then join the two, but there must be an easier way. Can someone help me shorten this up?

Thanks in advance.

SELECT tblMainframeRules.*
FROM tblMainframeRules
WHERE (((tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & (frmMain.JobCode1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & (frmMain.JobCode1) & (frmMain.Unit1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & (frmMain.JobCode1) & (frmMain.Unit1) & " " & (frmMain.Employee1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & Left((frmMain.JobCode1),1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & Left((frmMain.JobCode1),2) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & Left((frmMain.JobCode1),1) & " " & Right((frmMain.JobCode1),1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & (frmMain.Employee1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & (frmMain.JobCode1) & " " & (frmMain.Employee1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & (frmMain.Unit1) & " " & (frmMain.Employee1))) OR (((tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & (frmMain.Unit1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & Left((frmMain.Unit1),1) Or (tblMainframeRules.fldArea) Like (frmMain.LDD1) & " " & Left((frmMain.Unit1),2)));

How about this:

SELECT tblMainframeRules.*
FROM tblMainframeRules
WHERE fldArea Like "frmMain.LDD1*";

If you're referring to a form field:

SELECT tblMainframeRules.*
FROM tblMainframeRules
WHERE fldArea Like Forms!frmMain!LDD1 & "*";

Having to use a lot of OR operators normally indicates your database isn't structured properly.

RV

Yeah, I was thinking about that last night. The first field in the table should be broken apart further. That will probably solve my issues.

Thanks for the post.