Problem with the LIKE operator in the Select statement.

• Vinoo

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  March 4, 2009 at 12:43 am

  #200471

  Hi,

  I just faced this weird issue while checking something in a

  SP code. To simplify it I have replicated the problem below.

  Why should the value 'LeftPanelSelect' be selected as part of the select stmt below? Am I missing something?

  declare @tbl table(name varchar(30))

  insert into @tbl(name) values ('l_ChildPeopleSelect')

  insert into @tbl(name) values ('l_ChildSitesSelect')

  insert into @tbl(name) values ('LeftPanelSelect')

  insert into @tbl(name) values ('l_CompanyDetailsGetByName')

  insert into @tbl(name) values ('l_CompanyDetailsGetByName')

  insert into @tbl(name) values ('l_CompanyEventsGet')

  select * from @tbl where name like 'l_%'

• Old McDonald

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  March 4, 2009 at 12:58 am

  #952920

  this is because _ is a wildchard character for single character

  -Vikas Bindra

• arun.sas

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  March 4, 2009 at 1:27 am

  #952933

  hi,

  refer the topics

  http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic551602-1325-2.aspx#bm567224

  (Home » Article Discussions » Article Discussions by Author » Discuss content posted by Susantha Bathige » LIKE operator)

  ARUN SAS

• john.arnott

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  March 5, 2009 at 12:09 pm

  #954280

  To search for an underscore or percent sign (_ or %), specify and use an escape character. With a tilde escape, your query would be:

  select * from @tbl where name like 'l~_%' ESCAPE '~'

• Florian Reischl

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  March 5, 2009 at 12:15 pm

  #954285

  Or the classic style

  DECLARE @t TABLE (txt VARCHAR(100))

  INSERT INTO @t VALUES ('abc')

  INSERT INTO @t VALUES ('a_bc')

  SELECT * FROM @t WHERE txt LIKE 'a[_]%'