I tried those variations. I think there's something else wrong. Even if I created a new table and new query, I got the compile error. I just ended up having to move on & recreate the db. Fortunately it's a simple one. Thanks. /g -----Original Message----- From: Green [mailto:1z@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] REPLACE was wrong, apologies. I didn't see the bit about splitting into two fields. >Any thoughts on where the compile > error came from and what to do about it? MID, LEFT, RIGHT will return a type of variable called VARIANT and not a text string. To get a string you should use MID$, LEFT$ and RIGHT$. Could that be causing a compile problem. Regards Lisa -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis -- -- Type: application/ms-tnef -- File: winmail.dat ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the subject line. Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to upload/download files: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles *************************************************************