How to enforce a string format in a field??

My database contains a field called 'SSN' whose contents should be obvious.

Is there any way to constrain that field to the following format: ddd-dd-dddd? That is: if there is an attempt to insert a value that doesn't have 9 digits with the hyphens in the proper places, the record should be rejected.

Or is this something that I should check before inserting the data into the table (for instance, making sure that the *.dat file only contains proper SSN values)??

TIA, -Ramon F Herrera Received on Sat Nov 27 2004 - 04:45:51 CST