I have 2 cols "Ref1"(col a) and "Ref2"col b.

"Ref1" is up to 6 digits long and "Ref2" is up to 8 digits long. I now
need to convert these 2 columns to character. The character field does
need to be 6 or 8 digits long, so in some cases ie ref1 may only be
"456" while it needs to end up as 000456 in character format and to
appear in a "new" col k. and similary with ref2 which needs to end as
8 characters long in col L.

I believe there is a simply formula that will give me this result and
i can then "drag" it down the column length.(I need to change about
6000 records in total)

Could somebody help with request please.

With thanks

I