SQL LIKE Operator

The LIKE operator in SQL is used to search for a specified pattern in a column. It is commonly used with the WHERE clause to filter data based on partial matches.

📌 Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE pattern;

🔹 Wildcards

• % – Represents zero, one, or multiple characters.
• _ – Represents a single character.

📊 Example Table: users

id | name    | age | city
---+---------+-----+---------
1  | Alice   | 22  | New York
2  | Bob     | 30  | London
3  | Charlie | 18  | Sydney
4  | Diana   | 27  | Toronto
5  | Ethan   | 35  | Paris

🔍 Example 1: Names Starting with A

Find users whose names start with "A":

SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE 'A%';

🔍 Example 2: Names Ending with "a"

SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE '%a';

🔍 Example 3: Names Containing "ar"

SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE '%ar%';

🔍 Example 4: Names with Second Letter "o"

SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE '_o%';

⚡ Best Practices

• Use LIKE for flexible pattern matching in queries.
• Consider using indexes with caution; leading % may prevent index usage.
• Combine with NOT LIKE to exclude patterns.
• Use ILIKE in some databases for case-insensitive matching.

📝 Summary

The LIKE operator is powerful for filtering rows based on patterns. Wildcards such as % and _ make searches flexible. It is commonly used in reports, search features, and data validation.

🚀 Next Steps

Next, we will explore the IN Operator in SQL, which allows filtering rows based on a set of values.