Extracting string that matches certain format

[hepzebah]

Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks in advance for any help you would be able to offer on this issue! I have a memo field in my table that may or may not contain text in a certain format (**** #*##). I need to find a way to extract any text from this field that matches that format.

If it makes it easier, there are only a limited number of values that the first four characters (which are alpha) can be. I have a separate table that contains these values.

Essentially, I have a database of course descriptions that may contain course codes (in format **** #*##) that are prerequisites for that course. I need a query that can extract those course codes directly from the course descriptions.

Thanks again,
Catherine

 

[kjv1611]

If you're looking for the best performance for such a task, then I think you'll be best off looking at using regex in VBA... (first link from prior linked search results). Either that or some pattern matching in access queries - (about 4th or 5th link in that one).