data67 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I am trying to use the following code to create a query that uses the sql "LIKE" operator but i am not seeing expected results. 




my $sql = SQL::Abstract->new(cmp => 'like');
#my $sql = SQL::Abstract->new(case => 'lower', cmp => 'like');


my @fields = qw/company_number short_company_name country_code long_co
+mpany_name
company_stock_symbol_description company_state_province_name company_c
+ity_name
company_web_address_description/;


# check hash for values first!
my($stmt, @bind) = $sql->select('company', \@fields, \%HoH);

my $sth = $dbh_essweb->prepare($stmt);
$sth->trace(4, "Xtrace.log");
$sth->execute(@bind);

[download]

I want he sql to look like: 

Select blah from tablename where column_name like '%search pattern%'

[download]
I am affraid the SQL::abstract module is not generating the percent signs around the search pattern.

Can anyone give me some tips on what i am doing wrong? Thanks

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: SQL::Abstract not working right
by jdtoronto (Prior) on Oct 10, 2006 at 15:52 UTC
    data67,

    Why would you want some default behaviour of the LIKE? If you look in the SQL::Abstract doc's you will find: 

    But, this is probably not what you want in this case (look at it). So 
+the hashref can also contain multiple pairs, in which case it is expa
+nded into an AND of its elements:

    my %where  = (
        user   => 'nwiger',
        status => { '!=', 'completed', -not_like => 'pending%' }
    );

    # Or more dynamically, like from a form
    $where{user} = 'nwiger';
    $where{status}{'!='} = 'completed';
    $where{status}{'-not_like'} = 'pending%';

    # Both generate this
    $stmt = "WHERE user = ? AND status != ? AND status NOT LIKE ?";
    @bind = ('nwiger', 'completed', 'pending%');

    [download]
    Which indicates that you need to provide your own wild-cards. The module will HELP you create complex SQL, but it doesn't do absolutely everyting for you. In time you may in fact be thanksful it works this way. I am :)

    jdtoronto

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      Thank you!
[reply]

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