is it possible?: show similar matches as one string

[machumpion]

Let's say I have a customer table. When I query multiple names using wildcards, I'd like to group the matches together rather than show each distinct match.

i.e. criteria:"*Jim*" or "*Bob*"

Result: Jimmy, Jimbo, Jimmo, Bob, Bobby, Bobo

Desired Result: Jim, Bob

Is such a thing possible?

 

[Ranman256]

no, records are individual, then so are the results.
it could be done with a bunch of vb programming.

 

[sneuberg]

Maybe something like:

Like "John"  Or Like "* John" Or Like "John *" Or Like "* John *"

if that's what you mean.

You could probably create a function to do this for you.

 

[Minty]

You could concatenate the results using Allen Browne's function.
http://allenbrowne.com/func-concat.html

The only issue is the output becomes a bit unusable if you need to process it further.