SQL Like

SQL LIKE Operator

The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for patterns in text columns.

Basic Syntax

SELECT column1
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 LIKE pattern;

Wildcard Characters

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

Starts With

Find names that start with the letter A:

SELECT name
FROM customers
WHERE name LIKE 'A%';

Ends With

Find emails that end with example.com:

SELECT email
FROM customers
WHERE email LIKE '%example.com';

Contains

Find products that contain the word phone:

SELECT name
FROM products
WHERE name LIKE '%phone%';

Single Character Wildcard

Find names with exactly five letters starting with A:

SELECT name
FROM customers
WHERE name LIKE 'A____';

Using NOT LIKE

Exclude rows that match a pattern:

SELECT name
FROM customers
WHERE name NOT LIKE 'A%';

Case Sensitivity

Case sensitivity depends on the database collation. In many MySQL configurations, LIKE is case-insensitive by default.

Performance Note

Using LIKE with a leading wildcard (for example, '%phone') can prevent the use of indexes and slow down queries on large tables.

Next Step

Continue with SQL Wildcards for a deeper look at pattern matching rules.