Special characters

  • I want to query and return records with special chars except the ones stated in the Where Clause.  I tried this query below but this is the data it is returning...something does not look right:


    Select * 
    from [XLSFiles]
    where fullimagepath like '%[^a-zA-Z0-9.&_-#$\\() ]%'

    [\code]

    Results
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\A\AC58-1153\ABG CAT AND JACK D202 C3 2018 H&H ICT.XLSX_met.txt
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\A\A67B-0421\ICT 01_20_2018_Décor_74_License_Trends International_updated 2.8.18.xlsm
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\A\A280-2005\ICT TEMPLATE-2.1.18-Updated 2.9.18-Final-Final.xlsm

  • Try changing your search string to this
    '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\() ]%'
    I believe that the hyphen was causing you problems, because it is interpreted as a range separator, unless it occurs at the beginning of the search string.

    If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.

  • The underscore is a single character wildcard in LIKE expressions.
    You'll need to encapsulate it in square brackets:


    Select * 
    from [XLSFiles] 
    where fullimagepath like '%[^a-zA-Z0-9.&[_]-#$\\() ]%' 

    EDIT:  Oops nevermind, it is already in brackets.
    Phil Parkin is correct. It is the dash that is the issue.

  • sestell1 - Friday, April 13, 2018 10:55 AM

    The underscore is a single character wildcard in LIKE expressions.
    You'll need to encapsulate it in square brackets:


    Select * 
    from [XLSFiles] 
    where fullimagepath like '%[^a-zA-Z0-9.&[_]-#$\\() ]%' 

    This did not work

  • Phil Parkin - Friday, April 13, 2018 10:51 AM

    Try changing your search string to this
    '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\() ]%'
    I believe that the hyphen was causing you problems, because it is interpreted as a range separator, unless it occurs at the beginning of the search string.

    Ok this got me closer.  This work so far:
    where fullimagepath Like '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()@;+, ]%'

    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\9B2C-4223\NW All League Bedding ICT[2][1].xlsm
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\9830-4735\mother! ICT Form.xlsx
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\992B-1644\ICTREV~1.XLS


    But I want to also exclude [ ] ! ~   
    and I tried adding them but didn't work.  I also tried putting it this way to test it and see if it returs the ! and ~ but it returned 0 records.
    where fullimagepath Like '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()@\[\];+, ]%'

  • The exclamation mark and tilde are easy enough, but those square brackets are a challenge. I cheated by doing this:
    WHERE REPLACE(REPLACE(w.SomeText, '[', ''), ']', '') LIKE '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()~! ]%';
    i.e. by removing any square brackets before doing the search. It's a bit dirty though.

    If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.

  • Phil Parkin - Friday, April 13, 2018 11:26 AM

    The exclamation mark and tilde are easy enough, but those square brackets are a challenge. I cheated by doing this:
    WHERE REPLACE(REPLACE(w.SomeText, '[', ''), ']', '') LIKE '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()~! ]%';
    i.e. by removing any square brackets before doing the search. It's a bit dirty though.

    Almost there... this is the results with this query.  I understand the one with the single quote (next to last line) but not the others..they should not show up.  How do i add the single quote to my where line?  I tried plugging it in there but it did not work for me.

    where REPLACE(REPLACE(fullimagepath, '[', ''), ']', '') Like '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()@;+,~!\% ]%'

    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\95A0-4654\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.XLSX

    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\95A0-4654\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.XLSX_met.txt
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\B\B6BE-4216\WWW D21 C4 2017 Costing 1.1 Playing with Plaid Capsule(1)[1][1].xlsx
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\3\3AA2-4621\Copy of Home Electronics ICT Dec`17.xlsm
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\7\789A-0900\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.xlsx

  • Interesting... it looks like escaping the square brackets only works when you explicitly specify the escape character for some reason?

    Give this a shot:


    DECLARE @TEXT TABLE
    (
        ID INT IDENTITY(1,1),
        STRING_VALUE VARCHAR(500)
    )

    INSERT INTO @TEXT (STRING_VALUE) VALUES
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\95A0-4654\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.XLSX'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\95A0-4654\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.XLSX_met.txt'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\B\B6BE-4216\WWW D21 C4 2017 Costing 1.1 Playing with Plaid Capsule(1)[1][1].xlsx'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\3\3AA2-4621\Copy of Home Electronics ICT Dec`17.xlsm'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\7\789A-0900\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.xlsx')

    SELECT *
    FROM @TEXT
    WHERE STRING_VALUE LIKE '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()~! `\[\]]%' ESCAPE '\'

  • sestell1 - Friday, April 13, 2018 12:52 PM

    Interesting... it looks like escaping the square brackets only works when you explicitly specify the escape character for some reason?

    Give this a shot:


    DECLARE @TEXT TABLE
    (
        ID INT IDENTITY(1,1),
        STRING_VALUE VARCHAR(500)
    )

    INSERT INTO @TEXT (STRING_VALUE) VALUES
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\95A0-4654\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.XLSX'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\9\95A0-4654\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.XLSX_met.txt'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\B\B6BE-4216\WWW D21 C4 2017 Costing 1.1 Playing with Plaid Capsule(1)[1][1].xlsx'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\3\3AA2-4621\Copy of Home Electronics ICT Dec`17.xlsm'),
    ('\\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\7\789A-0900\Ningbo Lisi Project S ICT.xlsx')

    SELECT *
    FROM @TEXT
    WHERE STRING_VALUE LIKE '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()~! `\[\]]%' ESCAPE '\'

    That works when i run your code...but when i run it on my data...
    Running this :
    WHERE fullimagepath LIKE '%[^-a-zA-Z0-9.&_#$\\()@+ `\[\]]%' ESCAPE '\'

    Getting this results....
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\D\DA22-1448\Spring 2018 SNP, Del. 3 ICT (5.6.2018 set).xlsm
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\D\DA11-1202\Copy of C3 KP- Unique - ICT!!.xlsx
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\4\4799-5310\ICT - J.Campione, MP Garlic Breadstick and Knots.xlsm
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\A\AB64-2323\ICT Form - Home Electronics, LG OLED C8 for TGT.com, 2.8.18.xlsm
    \\USATL02ERAS40\auditfiles\TargetBuyerFilesCorp\Email Extraction\ICTF17\A\A836-5615\D21-C1 18-WWW ICT Target Updated 2017-10-6[1].xlsm

  • Three or those are included due to commas in the name, which have not been excluded by the pattern.  I think you are past the problem of special characters in your pattern string.  You'll have to add in any characters you want to allow, as I can only guess at what you would want to include/exclude.

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