Hi,

Is it permissible for the "%" to be entered into data that is stored
in columns defined as text or varchar? For example, can the data
being stored in a text or varchar column be "Mr. Smith has a 50%
interest in the property"? Along the same line of thought, if
someone wants to search that text or varchar column for the "%" how do
you specify it in the SQL? Select * from <table> where <column> like
'%' doesn't work. I've tried '%%' and a lot of other things but I
can't make it work.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Sarah B. Anderson

Select * from <table> where <column> like '%a\%b%' ESCAPE '\';

....that will match a string containing a%b

Breck

On Fri, 9 Oct 2009 10:56:07 -0700 (PDT), Sarah <sanderson (AT) tnc (DOT) org>
wrote:

--
Breck Carter http://sqlanywhere.blogspot.com/

RisingRoad SQL Anywhere and MobiLink Professional Services
breck.carter (AT) risingroad (DOT) com

On Oct 9, 2:14*pm, "Breck Carter [TeamSybase]"
<NOSPAM__breck.car... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Thanks Breck. Is there a way to search for a % sign on its own? In
other words, I want to find all rows where <column> contains a "%".

Also, is it ok to have the "%" in data in columns that are defined as
text or varchar? Thanks again for your help.

Sarah B. Anderson

This should work: LIKE '%\%%' ESCAPE '\'

The first and last % work like wild cards to match zero or more of any
characters, and the middle \% exactly matches a single % character.

Breck

On Fri, 9 Oct 2009 11:20:06 -0700 (PDT), Sarah <sanderson (AT) tnc (DOT) org>
wrote:

--
Breck Carter http://sqlanywhere.blogspot.com/

RisingRoad SQL Anywhere and MobiLink Professional Services
breck.carter (AT) risingroad (DOT) com

Sarah wrote:
It is ok to store *any* kind of chars in text/char columns - that's what
they are for. Your issue has just to do with LIKE search clauses, and
you're right that looking for chars that are used as wildcards is a
little bit more difficult. However, the solution is not to prevent the
storage of such data but to apply the correct escape sequences like
Breck has shown.

HTH
Volker

Thanks Breck, that's exactly what I was looking for. I appreciate
your help!

Sarah Anderson

On Oct 12, 3:55*am, Volker Barth <No_VBarth (AT) Spam_GLOBAL-FINANZ (DOT) de>
wrote:
Thanks, Volker. I appreciate confirmation that "%" signs are ok in
those columns. It turns out that the "problem" with % signs was due
to another part of our application, not SQL Anywhere. I didn't think
it was SQL Anywhere but was just trying to eliminate all the
possibilities. Thanks again for your response.

Sarah Anderson