Your first approach should work if you append the '%' to the variable before the SQLEXEC call. Also, I don't think you need the quotes around the variable.

gcLast = alltrim(gcLast) + '%'
SQLEXEC(gnConnHandle,[select * from patients where lastname like ?gcLast])

>Depending on the fields the user fills in, I need to build
>a sqlpass though statement that search fields based on the beginning of the string:
>
>Example: The user enters KE in a textfield which is stored to gcLast
>
>I want to be able to return a result set where all the last names start with KE
>
>Here is one of the ways I tried
>
>SQLEXEC(gnConnHandle,[select * from patients where lastname like '?gcLast%'])
>
>I though I just about had it with this one:
>
>

>select * from patients
>    where {fn locate(?gcLast,lastname)}>0
>    AND {fn locate(?gcFIRST,firstname)}>0
>
>

>
>But I gues locate finds a match anywhere in the string, thus if I enter
>KE for the lastName
>R for the firstname
>
>it will find records:
>
>KELLY, KIRK
>KELLY, ROGER
>
>When I really just wanted it to find KELLY, ROGER
>
>Help Please