General - Help with Truncating a value

Hi All

Im pretty much a beginner with Access. I have created a database with 2 tables. The first table has about 1.8 million lines and each line contains full UK postcodes,

eg. AB10 1AA.

In the other table i have a list of destinations and postcode sectors,

eg. AB10 1

I need to use to link the tables by the full postcode and postcode sector. In excel i would just truncate the value. How can i do this in access??

Any help would be much appreciated.

Antony

You may need to investigate into this a little more,..

Take a look at this link,..

<<String Functions >>

For example,.. either of the following gives the result as requested above,.. but maybe not for all your records,


create a query

Mid([Fld],1,6)

or

Left([Fld],6)

etc

Query1
Expr1: Left([yourpostcode],6)
then your fields

Query2
Expr2: Left([yoursector],6)
then your fields

Query3 -------- Use Query1 - Expr1 and Query2 - Expr2, many to one (many Expr1's to one Expr2
then your fields

Is it possible to add a column in the table that uses the following criteria,

Left([Postcode],Len([Postcode])-2)

I know that i can do this in excel. Is this how it is done in access?

You probably should not do that. Excel is a spreadsheet and it is common to store calculated data in its "cells." Access is not a spreadsheet, rather it is a relational database. You should avoid storing calculated values in relational tables, because doing so will cause many future problems for you. The other guys have given you good tips on the way to do it.