Like operator

Used to compare two strings.

Syntax

result = string Like pattern

The Like operator syntax has these parts:

Remarks

If string matches pattern, result is True; if there is no match, result is False; and if either string or pattern is Null, result is Null.

The behavior of the Like operator depends on a sort order derived from the internal binary representations of the characters. In Microsoft Windows, sort order is determined by the code page. In the following example, a typical binary sort order is shown:

A < B < E < Z < a < b < e < z < À < Ê < Ø < à < ê < ø

Built-in pattern matching provides a versatile tool for string comparisons. The pattern-matching features allow you to use wildcard characters, character lists, or character ranges, in any combination, to match strings. The following table shows the characters allowed in pattern and what they match:

A group of one or more characters (charlist) enclosed in brackets ([ ]) can be used to match any single character in string and can include almost any character code, including digits.

Note   To match the special characters left bracket ([), question mark (?), number sign (#), and asterisk (*), enclose them in brackets. The right bracket (]) can't be used within a group to match itself, but it can be used outside a group as an individual character.

By using a hyphen (-) to separate the upper and lower bounds of the range, charlist can specify a range of characters . For example, [A-Z] results in a match if the corresponding character position in string contains any of the uppercase letters in the range A through Z. Multiple ranges are included within the brackets without delimiters.

The meaning of a specified range depends on the character ordering valid at run time. Using the same example shown above, the range [A – E] matches A, B, and E.

Other important rules for pattern matching include the following:

• An exclamation point (!) at the beginning of charlist means that a match is made if any character except the ones in charlist is found in string. When used outside brackets, the exclamation point matches itself.
  
  
• The hyphen (-) can appear either at the beginning (after an exclamation point if one is used) or at the end of charlist to match itself. In any other location, the hyphen is used to identify a range of characters.
  
  
• When a range of characters is specified, they must appear in ascending sort order (from lowest to highest). [A-Z] is a valid pattern, but [Z-A] is not.
  
  
• The character sequence [] is considered a zero-length string.

In some languages, there are special characters in the alphabet that represent two separate characters. For example, several languages use the character "æ" to represent the characters "a" and "e" when they appear together. The Like operator recognizes that the single special character and the two individual characters are equivalent.

When a language that uses a special character is specified in the system locale settings, an occurrence of the single special character in either pattern or string matches the equivalent 2-character sequence in the other string. Similarly, a single special character in pattern enclosed in brackets (by itself, in a list, or in a range) matches the equivalent 2-character sequence in string.