SACEGO PROBLEM

I have this sacego report for which I would like to run a select based upon the value in the 9th position of a char(9) field. Let say the value in the field is "B0826.00A" ^ this is what I want to select. I would like this to be dynamic enough to allow input from user as to what letter to search for (i.e., [A-Z]). I would like to define an input variable and prompt the user for the value to search for. This is what I want to work which doesn't: select col_1,col2,col_3 from table_1 where col_1 matches "*$input_var" This is what works select col1,col2,col_3 from table_1 where col_1 matches "*A" I have also tried "where col-1[9,9] = "$input_var", which doesn't work either. I can work around this problem by gathering all the data,sorting by col_1[9,9] and then checking for the value before printing; but, it doesn't seem efficient. We have Informix Tech Support and their response is, "Informix can't handle it, because of the 'matches' statement doesn't allow input variables". Hmmm. Anyone, have any suggestions? Thanks, Bob Beaulieu bob@netcom.com -- ============================================================= Bob Beaulieu bobb@netcom.com San Jose, CA (408) 978-0818 =============================================================