SQL Like Operator

SQL LIKE Operator

The LIKE operator in SQL is used to search for a specific pattern in a column's text data. It is commonly used with the WHERE clause to filter rows that match a pattern using wildcard characters.

Wildcards Used with LIKE

Wildcard	Description
%	Matches zero, one or multiple characters
_	Matches exactly one character

These wildcards let you write flexible queries to find data based on patterns, rather than exact matches.

Syntax

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

Employee Table

ID	EmpName	City	Salary
1	Tom	ABC	7000
2	Enna	XYZ	5000
3	Genny	ABC	8000

Example: Using % Wildcard

Find employees whose city starts with 'A'.

SELECT * FROM employee
WHERE City LIKE 'A%';

Output:

ID	EmpName	City	Salary
1	Tom	ABC	7000
3	Genny	ABC	8000

Explanation: A% matches all cities that begin with the letter 'A', followed by any characters.

Example: Using _ Wildcard

Find employees whose names have 'n' as the second latter.

SELECT * FROM employee
WHERE EmpName LIKE '_n%';

Output:

ID	EmpName	City	Salary
2	Enna	XYZ	5000

Explanation: _n% matches names where the second letter is 'n'.

Key Point

Search names, emails, cities with partial matches

Case-insensitive in some databases like MySQL (by default)

Combine with NOT for inverse matches:

WHERE column_name NOT LIKE 'A%';