SQL LIKE Operator

The SQL LIKE Operator

The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.

There are two wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:

• % - The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters

• _ - The underscore represents a single character

The percent sign and the underscore can also be used in combinations!

LIKE Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE columnN LIKE pattern;

Tip: You can also combine any number of conditions using AND or OR operators.

Here are some examples showing different LIKE operators with '%' and '_' wildcards:

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

SQL LIKE Examples

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName starting with "a":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName ending with "a":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a'

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "or" in any position

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "r" in the second position:

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that starts with "a" and are at least 3 characters in length:

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a_%_%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a ContactName that starts with "a" and ends with "o":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that does NOT start with "a":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName NOT LIKE 'a%';