> I hit EXACTLY this problem a while ago!
>
> Seems that the output I was getting from CONCAT_WS was causing a
> binary comparison to be made.
>
> I ended up folding the cases to do the comparison. In my case it had
> something to do with the way CONCAT_WS mixed the various types of the
> input strings, giving a binary output. However in your case I would
> not have expected this to have been a problem.
>
> I notice that before posting here you had been using a different
> create table statement (thread over on Tek-Tips).
>
> Can you supply an actual table export from phpmyadmin with the create
> table output and sufficent insert records to illustrate the problem.
>
> Please make sure these are the REAL output from phpmyadmin, not stuff
> you have typed up yourself to look like it.
>
> Also, what release of MySQL are you on?

Yeah, I actually recreated the create table statement to see if that
would help, but nada.....

I am not sure that I understand what you mean by 'actual table export'
and input records. If you could please clarify I will give you what
ever you need.

Jim