match a partial field?

[joe-office-girl]

hi
i have very entry level access skills
i upload to spreadsheet and an try to combine them by matching by a like part number
often things come up like part number changes
in this situation WLJ87612 is now WLJ87612PP1 or WLJ87612PP2

i have two tables that i am trying to match partial information
in one table i have
WLJ87612 87612

in another table

87612PP2


and
87612PP1

is there a way to list combine as (partial) matches?
match the 87612 with the 87612(PP2) 87612(PP1)

thanks sooooo much foe your help!! =)

[orange]

See this technet article re Like Operator

[joe-office-girl]

thanks for the direction - but each cell may be different 'like' criteria
is there a way to do first 3 or 4 or 5 digit match instead?
not specifying 'm'?
thanks again for your help!

[orange]

Suggest you give us some sample data.

for this situation WLJ87612 is now WLJ87612PP1 or WLJ87612PP2

let's say these are partnumbers WLJ87612PP1 or WLJ87612PP2

Select * from yourTableName
where Partnumber like "WLJ87612*"

will select all partnumbers that start with WLJ87612

OR

Select * from yourTableName
where Left(Partnumber,8) = "WLJ87612"

will select Partnumbers where the leftmost 8 characters are "WLJ87612"