lele@... wrote:

> HB> But, if you have an index on the column F, you can
> HB> speed up that outer join (if it is what you need) by using the
> HB> STARTING WITH predicate instead of LIKE. LIKE does not use an
> HB> index, whereas STARTING WITH does.
>
> Helen, I cannot test this right now, but are sure of this? Last time I
> checked I seem to remember that FB was smart enough to recognize the
> "something%" idiom, and optimize the plan to use an index if there is
> one...
>

FIELD1 like 'text%' uses an index, if available
FIIELD like :PARAM cannot use the index

Regards,
Aage J.