LIKE, "=" and fixed-width character fields

Hello!
There's table:
CREATE TABLE table1 (
    field1 CHARACTER(10),
    ...
);

Then there's record: INSERT INTO table1(field1, ..) VALUES ('111', ...);

Then I query it:
SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE field1 <operator> '111';

When <operator> is LIKE no records matches query, when <operator> is =
my record matches query. Why? And Does this behavior varies from
PostgreSQL 7.4 to 8.1?

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
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