Microsoft KB Archive/199163

= ACC2000: Using LIKE with Wildcards May Cause Unexpected Results =

Article ID: 199163

Article Last Modified on 6/29/2004

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q199163



Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.



SYMPTOMS
In a Microsoft Access query, if you use the LIKE operator with a wildcard to search for dates, you may see unexpected results.



CAUSE
The Like function is used to compare two strings. It does not inspect the string for any type of date information.



RESOLUTION
Use the comparison operators <, >, <=, =>, <> or the BETWEEN clause when searching for dates. For example, when looking for dates in the month of May 97, use the following syntax:

Orders.OrderDate >= 5/1/1997 and Orders.OrderDate <=5/31/1997



Steps to Reproduce Behavior
 Open the sample database Northwind.mdb. Open a new query in Design view, and add no tables. On the View menu, click SQL View, and type the following SQL:

SELECT Orders.CustomerID, Count(*) AS NumberOfOrders

FROM Orders

WHERE (((Orders.OrderDate) BETWEEN #5/1/97# AND #5/31/97#))

GROUP BY Orders.CustomerID

 Save the query as qryTest1 and run it. Note that it returns the expected results. Create a second query called qryTest2 with the following SQL:

SELECT Orders.CustomerID, Count(*) AS NumberOfOrders

FROM Orders

WHERE (((Orders.OrderDate) LIKE "5/*/97"))

GROUP BY Orders.CustomerID

NOTE: The only difference from the SQL above is that the WHERE clause uses a wildcard.

</li> Run qryTest2. You see that it also returns the expected results as in qryTest1.</li> Change the SQL in qryTest1 so that the date uses a 4-digit year as in the following statement:

SELECT Orders.CustomerID, Count(*) AS NumberOfOrders

FROM Orders

WHERE (((Orders.OrderDate) LIKE "5/*/1997"))

GROUP BY Orders.CustomerID

</li> Run the query.</li></ol>

Note that no rows are returned. No matches are found.

Additional query words: prb

Keywords: kbprb KB199163

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