FileMaker Pro 4.1 Mac User's Guide

C-2 FileMaker Pro User’s Guide
Contents of Name
Formula walk-through
Here are some examples of functions:
This function Returns
Length("John") 4 (the number of characters in the text "John")
Round(SalesTax,2) The amount of sales tax rounded to two decimal places
Position(Name,"Mc",1,1) The position of the first occurrence of "Mc" in the Name
field
Some functions require two or more parameters, as in this example:
Position(LastName,"Mc",1, 1)
You can nest one function within another to perform more powerful
calculations on your data, as in this example:
Left(Name,Position(Name," ",1, 1))
The result of a function can be used as a constant. The following
example shows how FileMaker Pro evaluates a complex formula by
simplifying each function into a constant. In the example, the Right
function returns every character of text that is to the right of the first
space in the Name field. (This example shows how Right returns the last
name of a field that contains a first name and last name, when the value
doesn’t include a title like Dr. or middle initials.)
Indicate a space in
your calculation
by typing quote,
space, quote