create new field with first 9 characters of old field

[Guest]

I have a field with a persons ssn# and last name. 555555555Greene I want to
create 2 fields with this data. One with the social 555555555 and one with
the last name Greene. I am guessing that I do this by running a query but not
sure.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

I have a field with a persons ssn# and last name. 555555555Greene I want
to
create 2 fields with this data. One with the social 555555555 and one with
the last name Greene. I am guessing that I do this by running a query but
not sure.

First question. Are you planning on keeping the original field and the
two new fields in a table, or you planning to just use a query to break it
up when needed. Normally you should not store the data in both forms in the
same database. I suggest breaking up the filed into two fields and deleting
the original field

OK How. Yes you do use a query and the Left and the the Right
functions. eg Left (FieldName,9) will return your SSN#