thanks everyone! got it to work....

local stringvar audit_time;

audit_time := trim({AUDIT_TRAIL.AUDIT_TIME});

left(audit_time,2) & ":" & mid(audit_time, 3,2) & ":" & right(audit_time, 2)

I'm working in crystal reports. the tables are already set up. Thanks.

I am really new at this and could not get it to work. this is what I entered and keep receiving error msg

select audit_time ( audit_time(cast(audit_time as varchar),2,0,':') , 5,0,':')

the field to convert is called audit_time. the output format is 015136. it should be 01:51:36