>Ah, I see. If you want numbers first. How about adding an iif(). I don't see any problem with testing the first character with left(). Apply this to the first part of the expression.
>
>str(val(iif(between(upper(left(CatNumber),1), "A", "Z"), 999999);
> + CatNumber
>
>Well, this is getting about as messy as your original proposal, in the message that originated this thread.

Yeah, that's a continual problem :-) However, I'm going to quit worrying much about complexity at this point - if the vfp index code translates to Access and it works right, I'm gonna be happy. (LEFT is a valid Access function, as I found, and I think I saw a BETWEEN-like function too. I found most, in fact, except CHRTRAN.)

I need to play with your new code addition a little more, it looks pretty good in theory (something's off a little in my paren-matching, give me a few more minutes to get it working.)

Actually my original code may be okay too, in that respect, now that I've been web-browsing through Access glossaries, and lowered my goals a little. I think all the vfp functions I used will translate, as will yours.