Question

I have a database with Arabic_BIN collation on Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

If I run this query:

SELECT ID FROM maj_Users WHERE UserName = 'mahdi'

I’ll get nothing, but if I run this query:

SELECT ID FROM maj_Users WHERE UserName = 'Mahdi'

I’ll get a cell… Seems that SQL Server is searching database case-sensitively, but I want to search database case-insensitively.

Is there any way?

EDIT: Also I have tried SELECT ID FROM maj_Users WHERE UserName LIKE 'mahdi' but it didn’t work…

Answer 1

You can override a COLLATION defined on database or column level in a comparison using the COLLATE keyword:

SELECT ID FROM maj_Users WHERE UserName = 'Mahdi' COLLATE [collation name]

To find collations for case-insensitive Arabic, use the query

select * from fn_helpcollations()
where name like 'Arabic%' and name like '%CI%'

Arabic_CI_AI or Arabic_100_CI_AI seems to be the right choice for you.