Like operator

Used to compare a string against a wildcard pattern.

Syntax:

result = string Like pattern

result: Any numeric variable.
string: Any string expression.
pattern: Any string expression conforming to the pattern-matching conventions described below.

If string matches pattern, result is True; if there is no match, result is False. If either string or pattern is Null, result is Null.

The behavior of the Like operator depends on the Option Compare statement. The default for each module is Option Compare Binary, which compares characters by their internal binary representation (case-sensitive, ordinal). Option Compare Text performs a case-insensitive, locale-sensitive comparison.

For example, under Option Compare Binary a typical sort order is:

A < B < E < Z < a < b < e < z < À < Ê < Ø < à < ê < ø

Under Option Compare Text the same characters compare equal up to case and accent:

(A=a) < (À=à) < (B=b) < (E=e) < (Ê=ê) < (Z=z) < (Ø=ø)

The pattern-matching syntax allows wildcards, character lists, and character ranges. The following characters in pattern have special meaning:

In pattern	Matches in string
`?`	Any single character.
`*`	Zero or more characters.
`#`	Any single digit (`0`–`9`).
`[`charlist`]`	Any single character in charlist.
`[!`charlist`]`	Any single character not in charlist.

A group of one or more characters (charlist) enclosed in brackets can match any single character in string and may include almost any character code, including digits.

Note

To match the special characters left bracket ([), question mark (?), number sign (#), or asterisk (*), enclose them in brackets. The right bracket (]) cannot be used inside a group to match itself, but it can be used outside a group as a literal character.

A hyphen (-) inside charlist separates the upper and lower bounds of a character range — for example, [A-Z] matches any uppercase letter. Multiple ranges are placed adjacently inside the same brackets, with no delimiter.

The meaning of a range depends on the active Option Compare mode and the system locale. Under Option Compare Binary the range [A-E] matches A, B, E; under Option Compare Text it matches A, a, À, à, B, b, E, e (but not Ê/ê, which sort after the basic letters).

Other rules:

An exclamation point (!) at the beginning of charlist negates the class. Outside brackets, ! matches itself.
A hyphen (-) at the start (after !, if present) or end of charlist matches itself; elsewhere it identifies a range.
Ranges must be specified low-to-high: [A-Z] is valid; [Z-A] is not.
The character sequence [] is treated as a zero-length string.

In some languages a single character represents two graphemes (e.g. æ for a+e). When the system locale specifies such a language, Like treats the single character and the equivalent 2-character sequence as interchangeable, both as *string* and inside a charlist.

Example

Dim MyCheck
MyCheck = "aBBBa" Like "a*a"              ' Returns True.
MyCheck = "F" Like "[A-Z]"                ' Returns True.
MyCheck = "F" Like "[!A-Z]"               ' Returns False.
MyCheck = "a2a" Like "a#a"                ' Returns True.
MyCheck = "aM5b" Like "a[L-P]#[!c-e]"     ' Returns True.
MyCheck = "BAT123khg" Like "B?T*"         ' Returns True.
MyCheck = "CAT123khg" Like "B?T*"         ' Returns False.
MyCheck = "ab" Like "a*b"                 ' Returns True.
MyCheck = "a*b" Like "a[*]b"              ' Returns True (literal asterisk).
MyCheck = "axxxxxb" Like "a[*]b"          ' Returns False.
MyCheck = "a[xyz" Like "a[[]*"            ' Returns True.

Like operator

Example

See Also