Microsoft KB Archive/37510

INF: Case Sensitivity in SQL Server ID Number: Q37510

1.00 1.10 1.11 OS/2

Summary:

This article explains how case sensitivity works in SQL Server versions 1.x.

More Information:

SQL keywords may be entered in uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case.

Object names (such as table names, column names, and so forth) and user data are stored and displayed with exactly the same case as entered.

An option specified at master database initialization time controls whether or not selection criteria, sorting, and indexes are sensitive to case.

If case sensitivity is specified, “T1” and “t1” can be entered in a field that has a unique index. Where clauses will only find items that match exactly in case (unless LIKE “[Tt]1” is used).

If case sensitivity is not specified, “T1” and “t1” cannot be entered in a field that has a unique index. Where clauses will find all items that match, regardless of case.

The case sensitivity feature of versions 1.x have been replaced in version 4.2 with installable sort sequences, which affect both searches and ordering. These capabilities are more powerful than the 1.x feature, though an option for strict 1.x compatibility is provided for downward compatibility only.

Additional reference words: 1.0 1.00 1.1 1.10 1.11