## Trailing Spaces Significant with the LIKE Keyword

Q118803

    1.50 1.51
    Windows
    kbprg

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    The information in this article applies to:

      The Microsoft Foundation Classes, included with:

        - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.5 and 1.51
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    SUMMARY
    ========

    The Microsoft Desktop ODBC drivers provided with Visual C++ versions 1.50
    and 1.51 (the Simba driver) store trailing spaces in fixed-length
    text/character columns. This is important when using the LIKE keyword for
    filter clauses because trailing spaces are significant in LIKE. Therefore,
    to ensure pattern matching is successful against identifiers stored in
    fixed-length columns, a percent sign (%) should be added to the end of the
    search string.

    MORE INFORMATION
    ================

    Below are some examples of how to use the LIKE keyword in the m_strFilter
    string of a CRecordset object when using the ODBC drivers included with
    Visual C++. The two wildcard characters you can use are the percent sign
    (%) and the underscore (_). The percent sign can represent any number of
    characters. The underscore (_) can represent a single character.

    Sample Code
    -----------

       // This filter retrieves all records that start with "John".
       // Records such as "John", "Johnny", etc. will be returned.
       // Note that the % is necessary to retrieve "John" because
       // of the trailing spaces mentioned above.

       m_strFilter="Name LIKE 'John%'"

       // This filter retrieves only records where the field starts
       // with "J" and is followed by an additional character. Note
       // that a space is required after the underscore (_) to ensure that
       // only records with two characters are found. Using "J_" isn't
       // enough to find a record where the Name field is "Jo", for
       // example.

       m_strFilter="Name LIKE 'J_ %'"

    Additional reference words: kbinf 1.50 1.51 2.50 2.51
    KBCategory: kbprg
    KBSubcategory: MfcDatabase

Keywords : kb16bitonly kbDatabase kbMFC kbODBC kbVC
Issue type :
Technology : kbAudDeveloper kbMFC

Last Reviewed: May 5, 2001 © 2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.