SQL Wildcard Operators - The Coding Shala

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SQL Wildcard Operators

The Wildcard operators are used with the SQL LIKE Clause. SQL LIKE is used in the WHERE clause to search for a specified pattern in the columnThere are two wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator.
  1.  The percent sign(%) - represents zero, one or multiple characters.
  2.  The underscore(_) - represents a single character.
These symbols can be used together.
SQL Wildcard Operators - The Coding Shala
  • The following table shows some examples of the like operator with % and _ wildcards - 
 LIKE Operator             Description  
 where Name LIKE 'a%'      Finds any values that start with "a"  
 where Name LIKE '%a'      Finds any values that end with "a"  
 where Name LIKE '%a%'     Finds any values that have "a" in any position  
 where Name LIKE '_a%'     Finds any values that have "a" in the second position  
 where Name LIKE 'a_%_%'   Finds any values that start with "a" and are at least 3 characters in length  
 where Name LIKE 'a%e'     Finds any values that start with "a" and ends with "e" 

SQL Wildcard Example 

The following 'emp' table will be used for the examples - 
 Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 1     Akshay     22     Pune        40000  
 2     Mohit      21     Delhi       42000  
 3     Akash      21     Delhi       45000  
 4     Nikhil     24     Mumbai      50000  
 5     Smith      24     Pune        50000  
 6     Akshay     22     Pune        50000  
 7     Nikhil     24     Mumbai      43000  

The following query will return all the rows that have Name starts with 'A' - 

SQL >> select * from emp  
        where Name like 'A%';  
 
Output >>  
 Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 1     Akshay     22     Pune       40000  
 3     Akash      21     Delhi      45000  
 6     Akshay     22     Pune       50000  


The following SQL query return all the records that have the second character of the Name is 'o' - 

SQL >> select * from emp  
        where Name like '_o%';;  
 
Output >>  
 Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 2     Mohit     21      Delhi       42000 


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