SQL WHERE LIKE Statement

When do I use WHERE LIKE in SQL?

Use WHERE LIKE when only a fragment of a text value is known.
The WHERE LIKE clause determines if a character string matches a pattern.
WHERE LIKE supports two wildcard match options: % and _.

The SQL WHERE LIKE syntax

The general syntax is

SELECT column-names
  FROM table-name
 WHERE column-name LIKE value

Wildcard characters allowed in 'value' are % (percent) and _ (underscore).

% (percent) matches any string with zero or more characters.
_ (underscore) matches any single character.

PRODUCT
Id
ProductName
SupplierId
UnitPrice
Package
IsDiscontinued

SQL WHERE LIKE Examples

Problem: List all products with names that start with 'Ca'

SELECT Id, ProductName, UnitPrice, Package
  FROM Product
 WHERE ProductName LIKE 'Ca%'

Result: 2 records.

Id	ProductName	UnitPrice	Package
18	Carnarvon Tigers	62.50	16 kg pkg.
60	Camembert Pierrot	34.00	15-300 g rounds

PRODUCT
Id
ProductName
SupplierId
UnitPrice
Package
IsDiscontinued

Problem: List all products that start with
'Cha' or 'Chan' and have one more character.

SELECT Id, ProductName, UnitPrice, Package
  FROM Product
 WHERE ProductName LIKE 'Cha_' OR ProductName LIKE 'Chan_'

Result: 2 records.

Id	ProductName	UnitPrice	Package
1	Chai	18.00	10 boxes x 20 bags
2	Chang	19.00	24 - 12 oz bottles