topic Re: Using Wildcard in select by attributes in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Using Wildcard in select by attributes

DanRichert — Thu, 12 May 2022 01:41:33 GMT

I'm trying to use the % wildcard in select by attributes using SQL. It's a simple query. When I use it with a FIPS number it works but for some reason other fields with other numbers don't work. Every time I get ERROR 000358: Invalid expression.

Here is the SQL expression: VACANT LIKE '2%'

I'm just looking for the numbers that are in the 2000s.

Re: Using Wildcard in select by attributes

AndyAnderson — Thu, 12 May 2022 02:02:14 GMT

FIPS numbers are text, and that’s the only type of field where '%' works. Do the other fields contain text representations of numbers or actual numbers? If the latter you need comparisons like VACANT >= 2000 AND VACANT < 3000.

— Andy

Re: Using Wildcard in select by attributes

DanRichert — Thu, 12 May 2022 02:28:26 GMT

Ah that makes sense. I didn't check and compare data types. I just created a new field and populated it with the VACANT field and then changed it to a text data type and then the wildcard search worked!

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly and for the helpful feedback!

Re: Using Wildcard in select by attributes

JoshuaBixby — Thu, 12 May 2022 16:51:19 GMT

Creating a new field, or even casting to TEXT is unnecessary. If the numbers are integers, you can rely on basic integer math to find all numbers within the 2000 range:

VACANT / 1000 = 2