I'm having problems getting a PerparedSteatement to work, and I suspect it is because I am not handling the WHERE col LIKE '%blah%' situation correctly. I've searched the web for an example but have not found one, can anyone help? This is basically what I want to do, change this: String sql = "SELECT id FROM mytable WHERE name LIKE UPPER('%"+name+"%')"; ... ResultSet rs = st.executeQuery(sql); to this: String sql = "SELECT id FROM mytable WHERE name LIKE UPPER(?)"; PreparedStatement pstmt = db.prepareStatement(sql); pstmt.setString(1, '%'+name+'%' ); ResultSet rs = pstmt.executeQuery(sql); That doesn't work though, can anyone tell me what would? My actual SQL query is much more complex, but I think this pares down the problem to its essence thanks, -- Dav Coleman http://www.danger-island.com/dav/ ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster