> The one with data is called STATUS. The one to populate is called BAL_RET. The data going into the BAL_RET

field is based on the first 2 or 3 characters in the STATUS field. I can run it multiple times for the 2 or
3 different values in STATUS.

>
> This only has to be done once. After the data is migrated, the software stores the correct value.

You can also use something like this (in SP):
IF (status LIKE '_AB%') THEN ...

(which is equivalent to
IF (substring(status from 2 for 2) = 'AB') THEN ...

Ivan
http://www.volny.cz/iprenosil/interbase