MS SQL Server - LIKE operator

In this article, we would like to show you how to use LIKE operator in MS SQL Server.

Quick solution:

SELECT [column_1], [column_2], [column_3], [column_n]
FROM [table_name]
WHERE [column_n] LIKE 'pattern';  /* or any other column */

We use LIKE operator in a WHERE clause to find rows that contan column cell that matches indicated pattern.

There are two wildcards used with the LIKE operator:

• % - matches 0 or more characters (0, 1, 2, 3, ...),
• _ - matches any single character (requres in _ place some character).

WHERE [username] LIKE 'prefix%'

WHERE [username] LIKE '%postfix'

WHERE [username] LIKE '%middle%'

WHERE [username] LIKE 'part1%part2%part3'

Practical example

Let's say we have users database that contains usernames.

Listed patterns are matched with presented example texts:

PATTERN      EXAMPLE MATCHED TEXTS

J%           John     J  Jooohn  etc.
Jo%          John    Jo  Jooohn  etc.
  %n         John     n      an  etc.
 %hn         John    hn     ahn  etc.
 %h%         John     h     aha  etc.
%oh%         John    oh    aoha  etc.
J___         John  Jaaa    Jbbb  etc.
Jo__         John  Joaa    Jobb  etc.
___n         John  aaan    bbbn  etc.
__hn         John  aahn    bbhn  etc.
_oh_         John  aoha    bohb  etc.

To show how the LIKE operator works, we will use the following table:

Note:

At the end of this article you can find database preparation SQL queries.

Example

In this example, we will display Jonh user row using some LIKE operator cases taken from above patterns. 

Queries:

SELECT *
FROM [users]
WHERE [name] LIKE 'J%';

SELECT *
FROM [users]
WHERE [name] LIKE 'Jo%';

SELECT *
FROM [users]
WHERE [name] LIKE '%hn';

SELECT *
FROM [users]
WHERE [name] LIKE '_oh_';

SELECT *
FROM [users]
WHERE [name] LIKE 'J_h%';

Result:

Database preparation

create_tables.sql file:

CREATE TABLE [users] (
	[id] INT IDENTITY(1,1),
	[name] VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
	[surname] VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
	[department_id] INT,
    [salary] DECIMAL(15,2) NOT NULL,
	PRIMARY KEY ([id])
);

insert_data.sql file:

INSERT INTO [users]
	( [name], [surname], [department_id], [salary])
VALUES
	('John', 'Stewart', 1, '3512.00'),
	('Chris', 'Brown', 2, '1344.00'),
	('Kate', 'Lewis', 3, '6574.00'),
	('Ailisa', 'Gomez', NULL, '6500.00'),
	('Gwendolyn', 'James', 2, '4200.00'),
	('Simon', 'Collins', 4, '3320.00'),
	('Taylor', 'Martin', 2, '1500.00'),
	('Andrew', 'Thompson', NULL, '2100.00');