HCFA's HCPCS codes (a variation of the AMA's CPT codes) are alpha-numeric. I Lpad with spaces when they are stored in the file. This way you don't need functions in the index and select statements.

>Joe ---
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>I used to work with these codes (CPT, HCFA stuff, et al)....the best thing to do is to store them with leading zeros...that seems to be acceptable in claims processing systems which is what you're working on if dealing with CPT codes.
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