I'm having trouble finding only certain records.

Attached is a sample one field file.

How can I do a find on the first word using a <>?

I've tried doing something like: "

FM brings up lots of other words greater than >BZ.

Is FM searching on ALL the words in the field? If so, how can I limit the search to just the initial word?

Thanks

Susan Siegel

[email protected]

program_list.zip

To extract the first word use a calculation field with LeftWords function, then search on the new field.

My apologies if this is a duplicate reply; I had to end the FM program in mid task and it shut off this reply - I think before it was sent.

thanks for the "leftwords" suggestion -- but unless I'm doing it wrong, it still doesn't seem to work with a "<" search.

The field is now defined as a calc field: indexed, =leftword (program;9)

I didn't really know what to do with the number option as I would have no idea how many records are brought up by the text search. A number seemed necessary, though.

I also show the calc result to be text and I left the # of repetitions at 1.

RESULT: when in FIND I entered "adventure", just a list of adventure came up. If I omitted the "" the whole list came up.

But --

Should I be doing anything else??

Susan

[email protected]

Reread IdealData's reply.

Your search is finding everything because you have a pretty wide open request. You are asking FileMaker to find any record that has the c or a in it.

From your description, I not sure what you are really wanting FM to find, so maybe you can restate what the result should be, and that might help us help you.

In the mean time, if you are just wanting records that start with the letter a, or b, or c. than use the Left([color:red]program , 1) in a new field to search, and then you can search on it.

see modified file.

HTH

Lee

program_list.fp7.zip

Thanks again.

By combining the suggestions in both posts I think I've got it.

The key is creating a second field with one word -- a full word and not just a letter. Then I can do >aa...

As my "real" file with multiple fields (as opposed to the sample one field file I attached earlier) already has a separate "alpha" file for alphabetizing, I can easily make a slight adjustment to that field and use it as my one word <> search.

Thanks for getting me one step along in the learning curve.

One of the issues I'm dealing with in learning FM is that I have to learn new ways to perform procedures I've been doing for 15 years in my current DB.

susan

I hope you have found a solution to your need, but from your description of your solution, I'm not following how it works. Unless I miss my bet, a find of >aa should find just about every record in your file even using [color:blue]LeftWords (searchField ; 1 ) as your calculation.

You might want to look at using a value list and this calculation, and preform your find on the values. I would also look at using a relationship, and a portal as a possible solution.

HTH

Lee

In the past, I've used a <> search to find only a portion of the records in a file, e.g., those with last names >a..

That search is IN ADDITION to other criteria I'm searching for, e.g., only those records that are "active" -- but when, for a specific reason, I don't want to entire list of all active records -- just some.

susan