Like criteria ignores "[" character (1 Viewer)

[Happy YN]

I have some string entries as [Baghdad] (the square brackets are part of the string)
If I query on "[Baghdad]" it finds them
If I use "*baghdad]" it also finds them
BUT if I query using like "[baghdad]" it does not find them
Even stranger if I search on like "*[Baghdad]" it brings up about 70 records which have no connection to Baghdad whatsoever!
All this leads me to conclude that the Like statement cannot be used if the first character is a square bracket so I am asking
a. Is this true?
b. Which other characters does it apply to?
c. What can be done to overcome this?
Thanks

 

[Jon K]

The square brackets are used with the Like operator
to search for characters (*, ?, #, [) that have special functionality

e.g. Like "a[*]a" matches a*a, not aaa


or to define a range of characters

e.g. Like "a[b-d]e" matches a, then a letter between b and d, then e.

e.g. Like "a[!b-d]e" matches a, then a letter outside b to d, then e.



Since [ is a special character when used with the Like operator, to search for it using the Like operator, you have to put it in square brackets

e.g. Like "[[]Baghdad]"

e.g. Like "*[[]Baghdad]"
.

 

[Happy YN]

Thanks ever so much for that explanation Jon. Does that apply to the "]" as well ? Do I have to put that in brackets i.e []] ?

 

[Jon K]

No, it doesn't apply to "]". You can search for it as an ordinary character e.g.

Like "*]*"
.