Received this question in a private e-mail from Vishnu:

I want a select query  which should select values containing only alphabets ie (a - z only),

it should not include any numbers(0-9) or hyphen(-)


 Can you help me.

Thanks.

Vishnu

besided number and hyphens are there any other special characters?  If not then this should work

 CREATE TABLE #foo (Value VARCHAR(20))
INSERT INTO #foo
SELECT '1' UNION ALL
SELECT 'A' UNION ALL
SELECT 'B' UNION ALL
SELECT '2' UNION ALL
SELECT '33.331' UNION ALL
SELECT 'adada'UNION ALL
SELECT '1d2' UNION ALL
SELECT '17777.999'

SELECT * FROM #foo
WHERE Value  NOT LIKE '%[0-9]%'
AND Value  NOT LIKE '%[-]%'

Wouldn't this be more accurate?

You can use "PATINDEX", like here: http://sqltips.wordpress.com/category/tips/

If you work with SQL 2005, a CLR function and "regex" will also "do the trick".