SQL LIKE with no wildcards the same as '='?

Question

I know this is a pretty basic question, and I think I know the answer...but I\'d like to confirm.

Are these queries truly equivalent?

SELECT         


        

Answer 1

As @ocdecio says, if the optimizer is smart enough there should be no difference, but if you want to make sure about what is happening behind the scenes you should compare the two query's execution plans.