Like "*" Criteria - is this necessary?

[eschmidt12]

I'm working on improving the performance of an existing query. A criteria for one of the fields is Like "*". Is this necessary to include? Is there a difference between this and not having any criteria at all?

Thanks!

[June7]

The wildcard will allow return of all records if the parameter is not provided.

See if this helps explain use of LIKE operator and wildcard http://datapigtechnologies.com/flash...earchform.html

[eschmidt12]

That makes sense - but if I'm not sorting by that particular field at all (i.e. I ALWAYS want every record returned), is that field useful, or is it just an extra calculation that the query has to perform?

I guess the question is - if I don't include Like "*", will I leave out some records?

[June7]

Do you mean the criteria is just: Like "*", not: Like [input criteria here] & "*" ?

If the former then remove it, it accomplishes nothing.

[eschmidt12]

Do you mean the criteria is just: Like "*", not: Like [input criteria here] & "*" ?

If the former then remove it, it accomplishes nothing.

Exactly...it's just Like "*"...I wanted to confirm before I broke the query. Thanks!

[June7]

You could always put it back. But removing should not be an issue. It doesn't hurt being there, just doesn't do anything except maybe add a tiny bit of overhead to the query execution.