VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Like Operator

Syntax

                  result = string Like pattern

string (required; String)

The string to be tested against pattern

pattern (required; String)

A series of characters used by the Like operator to determine if string and pattern match

Return Type

Boolean

Description

If string matches pattern, result is True; otherwise, result is False.

Rules at a Glance

• If either string or pattern is Nothing, then result will be Nothing.

• The default comparison method for the Like operator is Binary. This can be overridden using the Option Compare statement.

• Binary comparison is based on comparing the internal binary number representing each character; this produces a case-sensitive comparison.

• Text comparison, the alternative to binary comparison, is case insensitive; therefore, A = a.

• The sort order is based on the code page currently being used, as determined by the Windows regional settings.

• The following table describes the special characters to use when creating a pattern; all other characters match themselves.

Character	Meaning
?	Any single character
*	Zero or more characters
#	Any single digit (0-9)
[list]	Any single character in list
[!list]	Any single character not in list
[]	A zero-length string (“”)

• list is used to match a group of characters in pattern to a single character in string and can contain almost all available characters, including digits.

• Use a hyphen (-) in list to create a range of characters to match a character in string. For example, [A-D] will match A, ...