A case-sensitive WHERE clause needs a COLLATE on the comparison, but the obvious version scans the index. A demo measures 286 reads against 2, and shows two fixes: keep the plain test beside it, or give the column a case-sensitive collation.
How to Do Case Insensitive Search? – Interview Question of the Week #267
Question: How to Do Case Insensitive Search?
Collations in SQL Server provide sorting rules, case, and accent sensitivity properties for your data.
SQL SERVER – Unable to Add Node – Could not find subkey System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ MSSQLFDLauncher. Error code 0x851B0001
Running add node on Node2 failed with “Could not find subkey MSSQLFDLauncher”, error 0x851B0001. The cause was a missing Full-Text MSI in the setup media.
SQL SERVER – Full-Text Search Not Working For PDF Documents
A client stored PDF files in a VARBINARY(MAX) column, and Full-Text search could not find text in them. Here are all the steps I used in my lab to make it work.
Trigram Matching: Finding Similar Words With an N-Gram Table
Build trigram matching with GENERATE_SERIES and an indexed n-gram table, rank shared pieces, and compare spelling similarity with SOUNDEX.
Vector Search in SQL Server 2025 With VECTOR_DISTANCE
Use VECTOR_DISTANCE in SQL Server 2025 to rank small example vectors, compare cosine and euclidean distance, and plan larger searches.
![A table of 12 first names with the 6 matches marked Yes, beside the pattern LIKE '[a-m]%z' split into three parts: one letter from a to m, any run of characters, and a final z](https://blog.sqlauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/querying-pattern-ranges-with-like-a-wildcard-puzzle-with-the-answer-cover.webp)
Querying Pattern Ranges With LIKE: A Wildcard Puzzle With the Answer
Querying pattern ranges with LIKE takes the % wildcard and a range in square brackets. This puzzle asks which of six queries finds every first name that starts with a letter from A to M and ends with z. The answer is tested on a small Members table, along with the = trap, the NOT range and a collation trap. Every result comes from SQL Server 2025.