Hi, you should additionally check with IS NULL:
SELECT * FROM mytable where myfield like '%%' OR myfield IS NULL if you want to get fields containing NULL as well. A field containing "NULL" in fact contains nothing, not even an empty string, so you cannot catch it with "%". BTW, this holds true especially for booleans: They can contain the values "true" or "false" or no value at all, which means, they contain "NULL" and are in fact undefined. You won´t catch them with something like "SELECT * FROM bla where blubb <> false", you will only get the fields containing true, not the NULLs. Regards, Frank. On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 13:22:00 +1200 "Traci Sumpter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> sat down, thought long and then wrote: > A team developer has chosen the lazy way of not checking if a variable > exists on his PHP page and has code which produces the following SQL > > SELECT * FROM mytable where myfield ilike '%%' > > I have noticed that this statement does not return null or empty myfield > records. > > Is this the way (SQL) to do this?? > > Is there a better syntax to the SQL?? > > Is the better way to create the statement in PHP is to check if the passed > value <> '' ?? > > Or is this issue being fixed in the new V8 version of postgreSQL. > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs/FAQ.html