if statement for part of string

[fishhead]

I'm creating an 'if' statement and am not sure how to ask for only part of a thread
eg: if Forms![fSHANSHPTSCREEN]![Shipper/Consignee] = shanahan*
open form: abc

where shanahan might be any of the following:
shanahan's manu company
shanahans bldg company

the key is the field will have the string shanahan in it but will have other characters in the string too. I only want the if statement to search for shanahan and ignore anything after it. Can you suggest the proper argument for the if statement?

[ssanfu]

If "shanahan" will ALWAYS be the first 8 characters, try:

    If Left(Forms![fSHANSHPTSCREEN]![Shipper/Consignee], 8) = "shanahan" Then
        DoCmd.OpenForm "ABC"
    End If

I would recommend NOT using special characters or punctuation in object names. Only letters, numbers and sometimes the underscore.

[fishhead]

I've entered exactly as you suggested:

Left([Forms]![fSHANSHPTSCREEN]![Shipper/Consignee],8)='SHANAHAN' then

but it doesn't see to work.

Just to be sure I also tried

Left([Forms]![fSHANSHPTSCREEN]![Shipper/Consignee],8) <> 'SHANAHAN' then
"
and it worked fine which is telling me something isn't right with the argument (as the record in question has " SHANAHAN'S - CALGARY (2808-58TH) " stated in the [Shipper/Consignee] field.

can yo suggest anything else?

[June7]

Is there actually a space in front of SHANAHAN in the data?

try:

If Forms![fSHANSHPTSCREEN]![Shipper/Consignee] LIKE "*SHANAHAN*" Then

[fishhead]

i should have thought of that! works great thanks!