Re: smallint-->char?

Thanks Mikey and Jonathan: where col_1 = "0" works just fine, as I'm sure where col_1 = '0' does. MY PROBLEM was including the wild card "*"s and the "matches" comparison where col_1 matches "*0*" My original attempts at this got "misdirected" by the "matches *0*" approach that worked sometimes but not all the time, i.e. I would run the command to convert a particular column and it would complete without error.....then running it on the next column of the same table I would get the error message! In some cases the command would correctly convert one or more entries on a given column, then fail, leaving the remaining entries unconverted. THANKS again! Jim (still learning this stuff with all YOUR help) Kistler -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=#=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Jim Kistler - kistler@an.hp.com # Some see issues and ask, "Why? Hewlett-Packard Co. Imaging Systems # Others see opportunities and 3000 Minuteman Road, Andover, MA 01810 # ask, "Why not?" TEL: 978-659-2251 - FAX: 978-687-7265 # =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=#=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-