Like Operator

Microsoft Office Access 2003

Like Operator

Compares a string expression to a pattern in an SQL expression.

Syntax

expression Likepattern

The Like operator syntax has these parts:

Part Description
expression SQL expression used in a WHERE clause .
pattern String or character string literal against which expression is compared.
Remarks

You can use the Like operator to find values in a field that match the pattern you specify. For pattern, you can specify the complete value (for example, Like “Smith”), or you can use wildcard characters to find a range of values (for example, Like “Sm*”).

In an expression, you can use the Like operator to compare a field value to a string expression. For example, if you enter Like “C*” in an SQL query, the query returns all field values beginning with the letter C. In a parameter query , you can prompt the user for a pattern to search for.

The following example returns data that begins with the letter P followed by any letter between A and F and three digits:

Like “P[A-F]###”

The following table shows how you can use Like to test expressions for different patterns.


Kind of match

Pattern
Match
(returns True)
No match
(returns False)
Multiple characters a*a aa, aBa, aBBBa aBC
*ab* abc, AABB, Xab aZb, bac
Special character a[*]a a*a aaa
Multiple characters ab* abcdefg, abc cab, aab
Single character a?a aaa, a3a, aBa aBBBa
Single digit a#a a0a, a1a, a2a aaa, a10a
Range of characters [a-z] f, p, j 2, &
Outside a range [!a-z] 9, &, % b, a
Not a digit [!0-9] A, a, &, ~ 0, 1, 9
Combined a[!b-m]# An9, az0, a99 abc, aj0

See Also
SQL Expressions Using Wildcard Characters in String Comparisons
WHERE Clause