Subject Re: insert dash after N characters in a strings From Mervyn Bick <invalid@invalid.invalid> Date Tue, 26 May 2015 05:15:35 +0200 Newsgroups dbase.getting-started On Tue, 26 May 2015 04:30:42 +0200, kent <gkent_28@yahoo.com> wrote: > On the first example 999-999-999-000: > this is on a separate entry field , on this field I want it in such a   > way that every 3 character there's a 'DASH' , and on the end 3 zeros   > will be automatically added. > > > on the 2nd example  9-99W-WXX-44E: > this is also on the separate field. the difference is that the dashes   > are located differently and no additional zeros are added after the   > values. > > > sorry guys for not clearing this out. > > Thanks in advance.     this.ENTRYFIELD1 = new ENTRYFIELD(this)     with (this.ENTRYFIELD1)        onLostFocus = class::ENTRYFIELD1_ONLOSTFOCUS        height = 1.0        left = 8.8571        top = 3.3182        width = 16.0        picture = "xxx-xxx-xxx-000"        function = "!R"        value = "         "     endwith     this.ENTRYFIELD2 = new ENTRYFIELD(this)     with (this.ENTRYFIELD2)        height = 1.0        left = 8.8571        top = 6.9091        width = 13.7143        picture = "x-xxx-xxx-xxx"        function = "!R"        value = "       "     endwith The x in the picture property will accept both numbers and characters.  If   you want specific positions to be numbers use a 9 instead of the relevant   x in the picture. The ! in the function property forces characters to uppercase. If you save the values to a field only the actual input will be saved eg   999999999 and 999WWXX44E for your two examples. Mervyn.