I have a table with a few thousand records. One of the columns is a
commodity code.
For example, a few of the entries are: 00608J, 02801C, 022034
I need only the first three numbers: 006, 028, 022
Is there any way by using either a table or query that I can chop these
numbers in down to only use the first three? I have tried a few things with
an input mask but nothing has worked.

"hursty" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:A8A5E8E3-5EE7-4062-932D-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a table with a few thousand records. One of the columns is a
> commodity code.
> For example, a few of the entries are: 00608J, 02801C, 022034
> I need only the first three numbers: 006, 028, 022
> Is there any way by using either a table or query that I can chop these
> numbers in down to only use the first three? I have tried a few things
> with
> an input mask but nothing has worked.

You can use a Query with a calculated field. Just type into a vacant Field
cell in the query grid:

FirstThree: Left([fieldname], 3)

This will not affect the data stored in your table, but will give you the
substring you want; it can be used for sorting, searching, or display.

John W. Vinson/MVP

Thanks, that worked great.