SQL LIKE

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

LIKE

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

You can use two wildcards with LIKE:

  • % - Represents zero, one, or multiple characters
  • _ - Represents a single character (MS Access uses a question mark (?) instead)
  • The following SQL selects all customers with a CustomerName starting with "a":

    Example

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

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

    Example

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

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

    Example

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

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

    Example

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