First Name field containing the word "and" - need to identify using a query

Cindy Powers · December 2021

I need to identify all of our constituents that have added two first names in the first name field with “and”, such as “Cindy and Kevin”. What I'm finding that when I add “and” as part of my criteria in the query, I'm also getting first names that contain “and”, like “Alexandra” or “Brandon”. I just really want the first name fields where constituents have added two names together when completing a form for a gift. There has to be a tip or wildcard out there that will help me set up this query so that I get “and” as a separate word in the First Name field rather than within a name. Can someone point me to where I might find that?

NOTE: I have checked out the “How to use wild cards” article in Knowledgebase, and it didn't cover this exactly.

Alan French · December 2021

You could try First Name like % and %

(a wildcard followed by a space, then “and”, then another space, then another wildcard)

Edit: * should also work, instead of %, if you prefer using that wildcard instead.

Karen Diener 2 · December 2021

Ugh! Trying to write out the criteria I use but auto-formatting keeps taking over. I query this a lot in every database audit I do, and use contains as my operator. I then use asterisk followed by a space followed by the word “and”, followed by another space and another asterisk. Similarly, you could swap the “and” for an ampersand.

The spaces immediately before and after the word - or symbol - help you to isolate the single word. So it won't find “Andrew” but it would find “Andrew and Mary”.

Karen

Cindy Powers · December 2021

THANK YOU! This is what I needed!

Cindy Powers · December 2021

Thank you Karen! I used Alan's suggestion and further defined my query with yours as well. I think this is exactly what I needed!!

Cindy Gericke · December 2021

Hello,

Apologies for not answering your question. I did this clean up procedure after migration just as you are doing and still periodically repeat it. However, did want to let you know to run the same queries for "/" between names, the ampersand, "&", and "or". Many errors were found using these as well.

First Name field containing the word "and" - need to identify using a query

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