case_sensitive (for models)

This page refers to the case_sensitive parameter that is part of a model.

case_sensitive can also be used as part of an Explore, described on the case_sensitive (for Explores) documentation page.

case_sensitive can also be used as part of a dimension or filter field, described on the case_sensitive (for fields) documentation page.

Usage

case_sensitive: yes
Hierarchy
case_sensitive
Default Value
yes, if the database dialect supports the parameter

Accepts
A Boolean (yes or no)

Definition

case_sensitive determines whether filters will be treated as case-sensitive for a given model. All filters related to the model are impacted, including those added in the Explore UI, the Dashboard UI, a filter field, or a measure's filters parameter.

case_sensitive works by adjusting the WHERE clause of the SQL that Looker generates. When case_sensitive: yes, filters are expressed with = or LIKE, such as:

WHERE name = 'bob'
WHERE name LIKE '%bob%'

When case_sensitive: no, filters are expressed with ILIKE (or equivalent), such as:

WHERE name ILIKE 'bob'

Most SQL dialects support case_sensitive. However, if your SQL dialect doesn't support the case_sensitive parameter, case sensitivity will vary according to your database setup, which will usually not be case-sensitive. Dialect support is listed in case_sensitive is not supported by some SQL dialects.

Examples

Make all filters case-sensitive for a model:

connection: "connection_name"
include: "filename_or_pattern"
case_sensitive: yes
explore: explore_name {...}

Make all filters not case-sensitive for a model:

connection: "connection_name"
include: "filename_or_pattern"
case_sensitive: no

Common challenges

case_sensitive is not supported by some SQL dialects

For Looker to support case_sensitive in your Looker project, your database dialect must also support it. The following table shows which dialects support case_sensitive in the latest release of Looker:

Dialect Supported?
Actian Avalanche
Yes
Amazon Athena
Yes
Amazon Aurora MySQL
No
Amazon Redshift
Yes
Amazon Redshift 2.1+
Yes
Amazon Redshift Serverless 2.1+
Yes
Apache Druid
Yes
Apache Druid 0.13+
Yes
Apache Druid 0.18+
Yes
Apache Hive 2.3+
Yes
Apache Hive 3.1.2+
Yes
Apache Spark 3+
Yes
ClickHouse
Yes
Cloudera Impala 3.1+
Yes
Cloudera Impala 3.1+ with Native Driver
Yes
Cloudera Impala with Native Driver
Yes
DataVirtuality
Yes
Databricks
Yes
Denodo 7
Yes
Denodo 8 & 9
Yes
Dremio
Yes
Dremio 11+
Yes
Exasol
Yes
Google BigQuery Legacy SQL
Yes
Google BigQuery Standard SQL
Yes
Google Cloud PostgreSQL
Yes
Google Cloud SQL
No
Google Spanner
Yes
Greenplum
Yes
HyperSQL
No
IBM Netezza
Yes
MariaDB
No
Microsoft Azure PostgreSQL
Yes
Microsoft Azure SQL Database
No
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics
No
Microsoft SQL Server 2008+
No
Microsoft SQL Server 2012+
No
Microsoft SQL Server 2016
No
Microsoft SQL Server 2017+
No
MongoBI
Yes
MySQL
No
MySQL 8.0.12+
No
Oracle
Yes
Oracle ADWC
Yes
PostgreSQL 9.5+
Yes
PostgreSQL pre-9.5
Yes
PrestoDB
Yes
PrestoSQL
Yes
SAP HANA
Yes
SAP HANA 2+
Yes
SingleStore
No
SingleStore 7+
No
Snowflake
Yes
Teradata
Yes
Trino
Yes
Vector
Yes
Vertica
Yes

DataVirtuality provides a semantic data layer connecting to various database dialects. If Looker supports case_sensitive for the underlying dialects, then Looker supports case_sensitive for DataVirtuality connecting to those dialects.

Things to know

You can create a case-sensitive search in MySQL

It is possible to create a case-sensitive search in MySQL without using the case_sensitive parameter. In MySQL, certain data types, called binary strings, store text as a series of numbers. The capitalization of the text makes a difference in the numbers that are used. Therefore, if you convert your text to a binary string, you can make searches that are case-sensitive. For example:

dimension: will_NOT_be_case_sensitive {
  sql: ${TABLE}.something ;;
}
dimension: will_be_case_sensitive {
  sql: CAST(${TABLE}.something AS BINARY) ;;
}