Making data shorter

[cstuckey]

Can you please help me?

I'm trying to change my data in a field to delete anything after the "-". For example: XXXX-XXX to XXXX. I want to do this using a query. Can you tell me how to write this function?

Thanks!

 

[dcx693]

Use an update query with this as the update to expression:
Left([your_field],Instr(1,[your_field],"-")-1)

Assuming all entries have a "-" in them. For example:
Left("XXXX-XXX",Instr(1,"XXXX-XXX","-")-1)
yields "XXXX"

 

[Mile-O]

UPDATE MyTable
SET [MyField] = Left([MyField], 4)
WHERE Len([MyField]) > 4;

 

[cstuckey]

Thank you! It worked.

Chris