Posted by Erland Sommarskog on 08/21/05 19:14

--CELKO-- (jcelko212@earthlink.net) writes:
>>> Is there a better to handle three parameters where any combination of
them could be optional? <<
>
> Let the inputs be NULL when missing and coalesce them to empty strings:
>
> WHERE col1 LIKE COALESCE (@param1, '') + '%'
> AND col2 LIKE COALESCE (@param2, '') + '%'
> AND col3 LIKE COALESCE (@param3, '') + '%'

I agree that NULL is better than empty strings from a conceptual point of
view, but performance-wise it will not make things any better.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/productdoc/2000/books.asp

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