where clause of my selectlayerbyattribute_management keeps returning error

[KP]

Refering to ArcGIS 10 Help, I have tried writting my where clause exactly as stated in the help (using quotes, brakets, etc) and I keep getting Error 000358: Invalid expression Failed to execute (SelectLayerByAttribute).  I am running this inside arcmap.

arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management("zipcode_27012", "NEW_SELECTION", "NAME" = '27012')

There must be something obvious I am missing.

[JakeSkinner]

Hi Kevin,

What type of data are your working with (i.e. shapefile, File Geodatabase feature class, Personal Geodatabase feature class)?

Try the following:

arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management("zipcode_27012", "NEW_SELECTION", "NAME = '27012'")

[KP]

Simply a shapefile.

[JakeSkinner]

The syntax I posted initially should work.

[KP]

I ended having to use three(""") to get it to work.