question about like

I have a table that looks like this

tbl1:
nvchValue nvarchar(100) NOT NULL
biVal1 bigint NOT NULL
biVal2 bigint NOT NULL

If I run this query against it:
SELECT nvchValue
FROM tbl1
WHERE nvchValue LIKE '%<%'

I get a result set that doesn't make any sense to me:
Term

--
?
?
?
fr?it

Those values are in the database, but I don't understand how the match
is working. Any help would be appriciated.It has to do with the collation you are using. Just like an 'a' is
considered equal to an 'A' in a collation that is not case sensitive,
the '<' is apparently considered equal to some of your ? characters.

If you explicitely mention Binary Collation in the WHERE clause, then
you will only get exact matches.

Gert-Jan

alternative_to_what@.yahoo.com wrote:
> I have a table that looks like this
> tbl1:
> nvchValue nvarchar(100) NOT NULL
> biVal1 bigint NOT NULL
> biVal2 bigint NOT NULL
> If I run this query against it:
> SELECT nvchValue
> FROM tbl1
> WHERE nvchValue LIKE '%<%'
> I get a result set that doesn't make any sense to me:
> Term
> --
> ?
> ?
> ?
> fr?it
> Those values are in the database, but I don't understand how the match
> is working. Any help would be appriciated.