Finding records with any value for a given field

[rfigley]

Need to setup a query that checks a certaid field for any value, what is the syntax for that?

$query = ("SELECT * FROM tbl_customers WHERE sales_rep LIKE '%$any_value%'");

[mwilson2]

Not sure what you mean by "any value"...

If you want all records that have a ("any") value in the sales_rep field, then:
SELECT * FROM tbl_customers WHERE sales_rep IS NOT NULL

This will also return all records with data in the sales_rep column:
(but "IS NOT NULL" is preferred)
SELECT * FROM tbl_customers WHERE sales_rep LIKE '%'"

This will return all records where 'sales_rep' starts-with $any_value, or all records with data if $any_value is NULL:
SELECT * FROM tbl_customers WHERE sales_rep LIKE '$any_value%'"
i.e.
any_value = 'JOHN' -- matches = 'JOHN SMITH' or 'JOHN JONES'
any_value = '' -- matches = 'JOHN SMITH', 'JOHN JONES', 'BOB SMITH', etc... (but not NULLs)

Hope this helps...

[rfigley]

SELECT * FROM tbl_customers WHERE sales_rep IS NOT NULL

returns all records in the database. Does teh word "Null" need to be in the space beecause it isn't. It's just blank.

SELECT * FROM tbl_customers WHERE sales_rep LIKE '%'"
Also results with the entire database listing.