Access Text Functions

This list gives a brief description of the most useful functions to manipulate text in the Access VBA language. Many of these functions have an alternate form which returns a string rather than a variant - for example Left() and Left$(). Access Help gives more details and will describe exactly how these functions operate in your version of Access.

Note that functions are always followed by a pair of brackets even if - like Date() - there's nothing in them. The Access editor will sometimes remove these brackets but by entering them you are telling Access that you are attempting to use a function.

InStr(<string1>, <string2>)	Returns the position of <string2> in <string1>.
Join(<array>)	Creates a string consisting of the words in <array>. Use Split to create the array. Introduced in Access 2000.
LCase(<string>)	Returns <string> in lower case letters. See Ucase.
Left(<string>, <number>)	Returns the leftmost <number> characters from <string>.
Len(<string>)	Returns the length of <string>.
<string> Like <pattern>)	Returns True if <string> matches <pattern>. You can include wild cards ? and * in <pattern>.
Mid(<string>, <start>, <length>)	Returns <length> characters from <string> starting at position <start>. Use the Mid statement to replace characters within a string.
Right(<string>, <number>)	Returns the rightmost <number> characters from <string>. Beware of trailing spaces being returned.
Space(<number>)	Gives a string of <number> spaces.
Split(<string>)	Creates an array holding the words from <string>. Use Join to create a string from the array. Introduced in Access 2000.
StrComp(<string1>, <string2>)	Compares <string1> and <string2> and returns -1, 0, or 1 when <string1> is less than, equal to, or greater than <string2>.
String(<number>,<character>)	Gives a string of <number> <character>s.
Trim(<string>)	Returns the <string> with all leading and trailing spaces removed. Use LTrim() and RTrim() to remove only leading or trailing spaces.
UCase(<string>)	Returns <string> in upper case letters. See Lcase.

Other functions

Follow these links for information about other categories of VBA functions in MS Access

Access date functions
Access logical functions
Access numeric functions

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