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

Note: MS Access uses a question mark (?) instead of the underscore (_).

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:

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%';