Yes, this seems goofy. But it is also how it has worked for 15 years and so it seems ill-advised to change it now, as it might break legacy. The behavior is now documented. See, for example, [\[1\]][1] and the penultimate paragraph of [\[2\]][2]. [1]: https://www.sqlite.org/draft/vtab.html#like_glob_regexp_and_match_functions [2]: https://www.sqlite.org/draft/vtab.html#the_xfindfunction_method