SQL LIKE Operator

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the SQL LIKE operator to test whether a value matches a pattern.

Introduction to SQL LIKE operator #

The LIKE operator is one of the SQL logical operators. The LIKE operator returns true if a value matches a pattern or false otherwise.

Here’s the syntax of the LIKE operator:

expression LIKE patternCode language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this syntax, the LIKE operator tests whether the expression matches the pattern.

SQL provides you with two wildcard characters to construct a pattern:

•  % percent wildcard matches zero, one, or more characters
•  _ underscore wildcard matches a single character.

When you use the wildcard characters in a string, SQL will treat them specially.

The following table show an example of using the % and _ wildcard characters:

Note that besides the % and _ wildcards, some database systems may support additional wildcard characters.

NOT LIKE #

To negate the result of a LIKE operator, you use the NOT operator:

expression NOT LIKE patternCode language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The NOT LIKE operator returns true if the expression doesn’t match the pattern or false otherwise.

Escape character #

To match a string that contains wildcard characters for example 10%, you need to instruct the LIKE operator to treat the % in 10% as a regular character.

To do that, you can explicitly specify an escape character after the ESCAPE clause:

expression LIKE pattern ESCAPE escape_characterCode language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

For example:

value LIKE '%10!%%' ESCAPE '!'Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this example, the ! is an escape character, which instructs the LIKE operator to treat the % appear immediately after it as a regular character.

In practice, you often use the LIKE operator in  WHERE clause to filter rows whose values match a pattern. Additionally, you can use the LIKE operator in the WHERE clause of the UPDATE and DELETE to filter rows to update and delete.

SQL LIKE operator examples #

We’ll use the employees table in the sample database for the demonstration.

Finding names starting with a string #

The following query uses the LIKE operator to find all employees with the first names starting with the string Da :

SELECT
  first_name,
  last_name
FROM
  employees
WHERE
  first_name LIKE 'Da%'
ORDER BY
  first_name;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Try it

 first_name | last_name
------------+-----------
 Daniel     | Faviet
 David      | AustinCode language: plaintext (plaintext)

Finding names ending with a string #

The following statement uses the LIKE operator to find employees whose first names ending with er:

SELECT
  first_name,
  last_name
FROM
  employees
WHERE
  first_name LIKE '%er'
ORDER BY
  first_name;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Try it

 first_name | last_name
------------+-----------
 Alexander  | Hunold
 Alexander  | Khoo
 Jennifer   | WhalenCode language: plaintext (plaintext)

Finding names that include with a string #

The following query uses the LIKE operator to find employees whose first names contain the word an:

SELECT
  first_name,
  last_name
FROM
  employees
WHERE
  first_name LIKE '%an%'
ORDER BY
  first_name;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Try it

 first_name  | last_name
-------------+-----------
 Alexander   | Khoo
 Alexander   | Hunold
 Daniel      | Faviet
 Diana       | Lorentz
 Hermann     | Baer
 Jose Manuel | Urman
 Nancy       | Greenberg
 Shanta      | Vollman
 Susan       | MavrisCode language: plaintext (plaintext)

Using the _ wildcard character #

The following query uses the LIKE operator to find employees whose first names start with Jo and are followed by two characters:

SELECT
  first_name,
  last_name
FROM
  employees
WHERE
  first_name LIKE 'Jo__'
ORDER BY
  first_name;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Try it

 first_name | last_name
------------+-----------
 John       | Chen
 John       | RussellCode language: plaintext (plaintext)

Combining wildcard characters #

The following query uses the LIKE operator with the % and _ wildcard characters to find employees whose first names start with any number of characters and are followed by a single character:

SELECT
  first_name,
  last_name
FROM
  employees
WHERE
  first_name LIKE '%are_'
ORDER BY
  first_name;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Try it

 first_name | last_name
------------+------------
 Karen      | Colmenares
 Karen      | PartnersCode language: plaintext (plaintext)

SQL NOT LIKE operator example #

The following example uses the NOT LIKE operator to find all employees whose first names start with the letter S but not start with Sh:

SELECT
  first_name,
  last_name
FROM
  employees
WHERE
  first_name LIKE 'S%'
  AND first_name NOT LIKE 'Sh%'
ORDER BY
  first_name;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Try it

 first_name | last_name
------------+-----------
 Sarah      | Bell
 Sigal      | Tobias
 Steven     | King
 Susan      | MavrisCode language: plaintext (plaintext)

Summary #

• The LIKE operator returns true if a value matches a pattern or false otherwise.
• Use the NOT operator to negate the LIKE operator.
• Use the % wildcard to match one or more characters
• Use the _ wildcard to match a single character.

Databases #

• PostgreSQL LIKE operator
• Oracle LIKE operator
• SQL Server LIKE operator
• MySQL LIKE operator
• SQLite LIKE operator
• Db2 LIKE operator
• MariaDB LIKE operator