yep when using a varchar for LIKE statemnts, the spaces are significant. a varchar contaning spaces at the end maintains the spaces; it's when you look for equal to a name that the comparison removes the trailing spaces:

[font="Courier New"]

DECLARE @table TABLE (FirstName   VARCHAR(30),

                     LastName    VARCHAR(30),

                     City        VARCHAR(30) )

INSERT INTO @table

  SELECT 'Angela     ','Barbariol    ','Snohomish    ' UNION ALL

  SELECT 'David     ','Barber     ','Snohomish    ' UNION ALL

  SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(15),'Angela     '),CONVERT(CHAR(15),'Barbariol    '),CONVERT(CHAR(15),'Snohomish    ') UNION ALL

  SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(30),'David     '),CONVERT(CHAR(30),'Barber     '),CONVERT(CHAR(30),'Snohomish    ') UNION ALL

  SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(15),'Angela     '),CONVERT(VARCHAR(15),'Barbariol    '),CONVERT(VARCHAR(15),'Snohomish    ') UNION ALL

  SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(30),'David     '),CONVERT(VARCHAR(30),'Barber     '),CONVERT(VARCHAR(30),'Snohomish    ') UNION ALL

  SELECT RTRIM('Angela     '),RTRIM('Barbariol    '),RTRIM('Snohomish    ') UNION ALL

  SELECT RTRIM('David     '),RTRIM('Barber     '),RTRIM('Snohomish    ')

SELECT '>' + FirstName + '<' AS FirstName,

'>' + LastName + '<' AS LastName,

'>' + City + '<' AS City

FROM @table

SELECT * FROM @table WHERE LastName LIKE 'Barb%'

--fat fingered a trailing space for my LIKE statemnt: no results.

SELECT * FROM @table WHERE LastName LIKE 'Barb %'

SELECT * FROM @table WHERE LastName ='Barber'

SELECT * FROM @table WHERE LastName ='Barber     '[/font]