I have a field of students names listed Last Name, First name that has been imported from another database (ascii import with loads of other data, so I can't do a comma separated import).

Is there a way to create a field that modifies the original name field as first name last name?

Any help would be most appreciated.

What do you mean by "ascii import"? Do you mean each field has a fixed width for every record? If that's the case, you should be able to import each record into one big field, then use the Middle() and Trim() functions to split the imported field into individual fields. Eg.:

Last name = Trim(Middle(importField,1,30))

First name = Trim(Middle(importField,31,30))

SSN = Trim(Middle(importField,61,9))

etc.

Either use Replace with a calculated result, or make each field a calc field until you are satisfied with the results, then change the calc fields into text, number, date, etc. fields; they will keep their calculated values.

If you mean something else by "ascii import", could you describe the format?

thanks for your help. I was able to use a combination of Trim, Leftwords and Middle Words to get the info I needed. Sorry about the vague reference to ASCII import, what I meant to say was that the information was strictly ASCII text exported from another database.

I appreciate your quick reply.

Thanks again.