asterisks in Access

[1guest]

In Access 2000 query

What expression should I use to retrieve text records that contain * (asterisk)?

Like "***"

does not work

I tried Like '*"*"*' and it did not work either.

[Scarecrow Man]

Office 2003 help came up with this:

Use the asterisk (*) in the query design grid (MDB)

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Note The information in this topic applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

Open a query in Design view (Design view: A window that shows the design of these database objects: tables, queries, forms, reports, macros, and data access pages. In Design view, you can create new database objects and modify the design of existing ones.).

Drag the asterisk (*) from the field list to the Field row in the design grid (design grid: The grid that you use to design a query or filter in query Design view or in the Advanced Filter/Sort window. For queries, this grid was formerly known as the QBE grid.).

Add the fields you want to sort or set criteria for by dragging them from the field list to the Field row.

Select a sort order in the Sort cell for the fields you want to sort.

Enter criteria in the Criteria row for the appropriate fields.

Clear the Show check box for all fields except the asterisk; otherwise those fields will appear twice in the query's results.

Click View on the toolbar to view the results.

does that help at all?

[1guest]

Actually, Access/Office help is in this particular case totally useless.

It does not mention anywhere, what type of delimiters to use when searching for special wildcard character *.

For example to filter "A", I would use criteria: Like "*A*"

But to filter "*", I can not use: Like "***"

So, I tried surrounding * in about 10 common delimiters with no luck. I guess they expect people to test all 255 characters before discovering the right one. And in this case even that would not work, since the left and right delimiters are not identical!

Fortunately, one good soul has provided the correct statement: Like "*[*]*"

[Scarecrow Man]

Interesting.. So that worked?

I have to take an Access class in College :D