I've asked this before but I didn't really get a good answer. I'll explain
better this time.

I am creating a database to log grain samples in and out of my office. They
each have Identification Numbers, such as AEP 1452 or ACBL 1653, mostly
alphanumeric. However, these IDs can turn up as AEP-1452, AEP 1452 B, etc,
but it is all the same. I need my database to, when I enter the ID, find
similar IDs so we can catch duplicates. My definition of 'similar' is having
the same string of numbers *OR* letters, because I know that getting both
will be tricky (there will be multiple people entering this information and
they can come in differently, like above).

I just need someone to point me in the right direction because I'm really
not sure where to begin to tackle this.

Thank you!

On Jun 2, 2:01*pm, H E Johnson <HEJohn...@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:
> I've asked this before but I didn't really get a good answer. I'll explain
> better this time.
>
> I am creating a database to log grain samples in and out of my office. They
> each have Identification Numbers, such as AEP 1452 or ACBL 1653, mostly
> alphanumeric. However, these IDs can turn up as AEP-1452, AEP 1452 B, etc,
> but it is all the same. I need my database to, when I enter the ID, find
> similar IDs so we can catch duplicates. My definition of 'similar' is having
> the same string of numbers *OR* letters, because I know that getting both
> will be tricky (there will be multiple people entering this information and
> they can come in differently, like above).
>
> I just need someone to point me in the right direction because I'm really
> not sure where to begin to tackle this.
>
> Thank you!

Try using LIKE...

LIKE "AEP?1452"

each ? stands for a single character.

This might help... helped me!
http://office.microsoft.com/training...RP011299351033