Expression to get the first 5 characters from a field

[gheyman]

I have two fields [LastName] and [FirstName]

I need a calculated field where the expression where if the length of the last name is less than 6 characters the expression uses all the characters but if its not it uses the first five (left(Lastname,5)) And then on the First name if its less than 3 characters it uses all the characters or it uses the first two --- then it concatenates the two.

If this was excel it would be something like this;

Concatenate(If(Len[LastName]<6,Left([LastName],5),[LastName)),(If(Len[FirstName]<3,Left([FirstName],2),[LastName))

 

[Joe4]

Excel and access are similar on these things, with just a few minor differences:
- Instead of IF, Access uses IIF. The structures are exactly the same.
- Instead of Concatenate, just use & between the things you want to combine together (Excel has the & functionality too).

Then LEN and LEFT functions work the same in both.

However, when do you even need to check for the length at all? If it is less than 6 characters, taking the left-most 5 will already pull all those characters, i.e.

[COLOR=#333333]Left([LastName],5) & [/COLOR][COLOR=#333333]Left([FirstName],2)[/COLOR]

 

[gheyman]

Thanks, Joe. I guess I was too wrapped up in the bigger picture to think that through. Youre right, I don't need to worry about the lengths. Thanks again.