<!--
-$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/func.sgml,v 1.79 2001/11/17 22:20:33 tgl Exp $
+$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/func.sgml,v 1.80 2001/11/18 21:17:10 tgl Exp $
Postgres documentation
-->
<para>
Note that the backslash already has a special meaning in string
literals, so to write a pattern constant that contains a backslash
- you must write two backslashes in the query. You can avoid this by
- selecting a different escape character with <literal>ESCAPE</literal>.
+ you must write two backslashes in the query. Thus, writing a pattern
+ that actually matches a literal backslash means writing four backslashes
+ in the query. You can avoid this by selecting a different escape
+ character with <literal>ESCAPE</literal>; then backslash isn't special
+ to <function>LIKE</> anymore. (But it's still special to the string
+ literal parser, so you still need two of them.)
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ It's also possible to select no escape character by writing
+ <literal>ESCAPE ''</literal>. In this case there is no way to
+ turn off the special meaning of underscore and percent signs in
+ the pattern.
</para>
<para>
<function>ILIKE</function>. There are also
<literal>!~~</literal> and <literal>!~~*</literal> operators that
represent <function>NOT LIKE</function> and <function>NOT
- ILIKE</function>. All of these are also
+ ILIKE</function>. All of these operators are
<productname>Postgres</productname>-specific.
</para>
</sect2>