John,

Thanks!  That did it!

Sue

Thanks for the help.

Here is the script I used..

UPDATE basic

SET alternate_id = CASE

WHEN PATINDEX ('%.%', alternate_id) > 1 THEN SUBSTRING (alternate_id, PATINDEX ('%.%', alternate_id) - LENGTH(alternate_id), lenGTH(alternate_id))

ELSE alternate_id

END

The original...

Thanks all for the suggestions...I will give them a try.