I believe that's expected behavior, arising from the 'null means we don't know *what* the value is--it could be anything' nature of nulls. For all the db knows, those nulls represent unknown values that *are* indeed like '%STU%'. You should get the same result from select * from tester2 where whatever != 'STUFF'.
HTH, -Roy Roy Pardee Programmer/Analyst SWFPAC Lockheed Martin IT Extension 8487 -----Original Message----- Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 9:42 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Can anyone explain why it is that I seem unable to use 'like' and 'not like' on columns containing null values. (I am unable to find information regarding this on MetaLink.) For example: SQL> select * from tester2; COL1 COL2 WHATEVER ---- ---- -------- 1 1 STUFF 2 2 STUFF 3 3 4 4 SQL> select * from tester2 where whatever not like '%STU%'; no rows selected My question is why does this not return the 3 & 4 columns? _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: Gary Jackson INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: Pardee, Roy E INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
