[RESOLVED] OR command in SQL?

[netfrugal]

this is very understandable:

SELECT * FROM `student` WHERE name like '%John%'

But, I am querying SQL server and wish to use an "OR" statement. I have more than one field to query.

Is this correct?

SELECT * FROM `student` 
WHERE fname LIKE '%John%' 
OR lname LIKE '%Smith%'

I am testing it in SQL Query analyzer and I get all records.

The OR is just a guess, and I couldn't find anything online describing how it is done.

[sidsel]

The above is correct

[Piranha]

The query will return everyone that have the string "John" somewhere in the fname column and everyone that have the string "Smith" somewhere in the lname column. And of course everyone that have both. It would for example return "Kalle Smithson" since "Smith" is part of the lname. If this is the results you want then the query is correct.

If you want the names to be exactly what you search use = since it is much better (and faster).

If you want to return only persons with the name of "John Smith" you should use AND instead of OR, but I think that you know that already.

Just watch out when you use both AND and OR, use parantheses to get the query to return what you want.

[netfrugal]

thanks guys, this helps!