You have your parameters mixed up
try this:

> place = AT(spc, m.namestr,1)

I do that all the time myself....
JP

>I have the unpleasent task of moving data from an old flat access table into normalised tables. I need to get two parts out of a string into one field each.
>
> old value m.namestr = "John Doe"
> into first_name and last_name
> spc = ' '
> place always = 0, which makes it hard to submit as an argument to SUBSTR()
>
>Thanks in advance for your help.