ACC: Like vs. = with Wildcard Characters in Query Searches

Last reviewed: May 28, 1997
Article ID: Q88166

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.

When you are searching a string by using wildcards (for example, * or ?), you must use Like or Not Like in the Criteria field, rather than using = or <>. When you use the = or <> operators, Microsoft Access treats them as actual characters to search for.

MORE INFORMATION

If you have a table with one column called Col_Name and the following four records

   Foos
   Foosball
   Foos ball
   Foos*

and you create a query based on the table with the criteria

   ="Foos*"

your query will return:

   Foos*

But, if your criteria is

   Like "Foos*"

your query will return the following four records:

    Foos
    Foosball
    Foos ball
    Foos*

The SQL statements built by Microsoft Access for these queries are as follows.

The SQL statement using Like is:

   SELECT  DISTINCTROW tablename.Col_Name
   FROM [tablename]
   WHERE ((tablename.Col_Name Like "foos*"));

The SQL statement using = is:

   SELECT  DISTINCTROW tablename.Col_Name
   FROM [tablename]
   WHERE ((tablename.Col_Name="foos*"));

Keywords : kbusage QryOthr
Version : 1.0 1.1 2.0 7.0 97
Platform : WINDOWS
Hardware : x86
Issue type : kbinfo

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Last reviewed: May 28, 1997
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