About blank values in fields

Microsoft Office Access 2003

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About blank values in fields

Microsoft Access allows you to distinguish between two kinds of blank values: Null values and zero-length strings. In some situations, a blank value indicates that the information might exist but is not currently known. In other situations, a blank value indicates that the field does not apply to a particular record.

For example, if a Customers table contains a Fax Number field, you can leave the field blank if you're unsure of the customer's fax number, or whether the customer even has a fax. In this case, leaving the field blank enters a Null value, which means you don't know what the value is. If you later determine that the customer doesn't have a fax, you can enter a zero-length string in the field to indicate that you know there is no value.