Wildcard as text (Access 2000)

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I have data that resides on a database where the * forms part of a text string.

How can i get my query to search for the exact string “19830817*001” without access treating the * as a wildcard???

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If you use
[MyField] Like “19830817*001”
the * will be treated as wildcard.
If you use
[MyField] = “19830817*001”
the * will be treated as literal

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Hi,
In addition to Francois answer, if you want to search for a string that contains one of the wildcard characters, you can enclose the wildcard in square brackets:
e.g. Like “123[*]*” would search for anything which started with “123*”.
Hope that helps.

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OK – I’ve tested the Like (19830817[*]001″) and it works perfectly, BUT (there’s ALWAYS a but), I couldn’t get it to do multiple events.

For example, I wish to pick up “19830817*001” and “19800923*001”

Correction – i can get it to do

Like (“19830817[*]001”) Or Like (“19800923[*]001”)

but not using the IN function

Thanks,
John

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Hi,
The IN operator should work the same way as the equals function – i.e. it will do an exact match so you shouldn’t need the square brackets in that situation.
Hope that helps.

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If the * is always in the same place, the following will work:

Like (‘198?????[*]*’)

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As an example, a field in your table contain three records as follows:

19830817*001
198*5612
200*25645

You want a query that will only return the 198*5612. The following statement will do this:
Like (“198[*]*”)
The * in [*] is treated literally as a character instead of a wildcard.

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