How to return the first letter of a string of letters and numberr

Dim lngIndex As Long

For lngIndex = 1 To Len(MyString)
    If Not IsNumeric(Mid(MyString, lngIndex, 1)) Then
        MsgBox Mid(MyString, lngIndex, 1)
        Exit For
    End If
Next

Select allOpen in new window

Lots of different ways to do that.
A bunch of folks will chime in.
Pick the most efficient and elegant method suggested

Using VBA

Function ReturnFirstLetter(strData as string) as String
Dim Done as Boolean

Done = False
'Lets recursively select the first character of the string
Do until Done = True
    if Len(StrData) = 0 then
        ReturnFirstLetter ="No Letter!"
        Done = True
        Exit Do
    end if
    'Check if it's a number
    If isNumeric(Left(StrData,1)) = True
        ReturnFirstLetter = Left(StrData,1)
        Done = True
    else
        'trim off the leftmost character if it isn'y
        StrData = Right(StrData, Len(StrData)-1)
    end if
Loop

End Function

Select allOpen in new window

i think this simple query will do the job

select [F1], left(replace([F1],val([F1]),""),1) as FirstLetter
from tablex


.

Use this minimal expression:

StrFirstChar = Mid(strNumberText, Len(CStr(Val("1" & strNumberText))), 1)

/gustav

@gustav
Some explanation of what that's doing would be nice :)

Nick67

speaking of minimal,

see http:#a40540769

Assuming that a value can have a leading zero:

    "01234abcd"

I prefix a "1" to avoid a leading zero:

    "101234abcd"

Now Val safely can extract the number part:

    101234

This is converted to a string:

    CStr(Val("1" & strNumberText))

which has a length:

    Len(CStr(Val("1" & strNumberText)))

which is used as the second parameter in Mid to define the position of the character:

    Mid(strNumberText, Len(CStr(Val("1" & strNumberText))))

Finally the last parameter is applied to extract one character only:

    Mid(strNumberText, Len(CStr(Val("1" & strNumberText))), 1)

Great fun!
Gustav

I had lost sight of the original parameters
Multiple numbers before letters.
Now Val() makes sense
Get the count of numbers from the front
Shear those off and take the first thing remaining.

or replace them with "" as @Rey did

Lots of ways to do it.
Didn't figure mine'd be the winner :)