On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:41:51 -0700 (PDT), GARY
wrote:

If M6 contains "J" or "L"
if the third character in M6 is a "-"
I want S6 to contain ""X"
else, I want S6 to contain "Y"
else, I want S6 to contain "Z".

How do I write the formula?

Try this formula in cell S6:

=IF(AND(ISERROR(FIND("J",M6)),ISERROR(FIND("L",M6) )),"Z",IF(MID(M6,3,1)="-","X","Y"))

Hope this helps / Lars-Åke