Thank you all for your suggestions, after half a day of hair pulling, I figured out what's going on.. actually the database table given to me wasn't consistent. There really were no listings for sme folders. that was the reason...
Otherwise to achieve what I wanted, this will work: select file_id,path,[desc],unit, displayName as name,pic_quality from #request.filetablename# where lower(path) like '#lcase(relPath)#%' and charindex('#path_separator#',path,len('#relPath#')+1)=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:248728 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4