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.
• WHERE LIKE 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.

SQL WHERE LIKE Examples

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

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