SQL LIKE Operator

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LIKE operator is used to perform pattern matching on string values. It allows you to search for a specific pattern within a string column. The LIKE operator is commonly used in conjunction with the % (percent) and _ (underscore) wildcards to represent unknown characters in the pattern.

The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.

There are two wildcards often used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:

•  The percent sign (%) represents zero, one, or multiple characters
•  The underscore sign (_) represents one, single character

The percent sign and the underscore can also be used in combinations!

Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name

WHERE columnN LIKE pattern;

 SQL LIKE Examples

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName starting with "a":

 

SELECT * 

FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%';

 The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName ending with "a":

Example 

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a';

 The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "or" in any position:

Example

 

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%';

 The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "r" in the second position:

Example

 

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%';

 The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that starts with "a" and are at least 3 characters in length:

Example

 

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a__%';

 The following SQL statement selects all customers with a ContactName that starts with "a" and ends with "o":

Example

 

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that does NOT start with "a":

Example

 

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName NOT LIKE 'a%';

 

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