[Edit]

MS SQL Server - LIKE operator

1 contributors

2 contributions

0 discussions

0 points

Created by:

Barmar

338

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

Quick solution:

xxxxxxxxxx
 
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).

LIKE operator	Description
xxxxxxxxxx 1 WHERE [username] LIKE 'prefix%'	Finds any rows that `username` cell starts with `prefix` text.
xxxxxxxxxx 1 WHERE [username] LIKE '%postfix'	Finds any rows that `username` cell ends with `postfix` text.
xxxxxxxxxx 1 WHERE [username] LIKE '%middle%'	Finds any rows that `username` cell has `middle` text somewhere inside.
xxxxxxxxxx 1 WHERE [username] LIKE 'part1%part2%part3'	Finds any rows that `username` cell: starts with `part1` text and has `part2` text somewhere inside and ends with `part3` text.

Practical example

Edit

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

Listed patterns are matched with presented example texts:

xxxxxxxxxx
 
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

Edit

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

Queries:

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

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

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

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

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

Result:

Database preparation

Edit

create_tables.sql file:

xxxxxxxxxx
 
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:

xxxxxxxxxx
 
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');

Show discussions ...

MS SQL Server - LIKE operator

Practical example

Example

Database preparation

MS SQL Server

Native Advertising

🚀

Dirask - we help you to

solve coding problems.

Ask question.

❤️💻 🙂