MySQL LIKE Operator: Definition, Syntax, and Examples

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MySQL `LIKE` Operator

The LIKE operator is used for pattern matching in WHERE clauses, helping you search for text-based data using wildcards.

Wildcards in `LIKE`

Wildcard	Description
%	Matches zero or more characters.
_	Matches exactly one character.

Basic Syntax

SELECT column_names FROM table_name
WHERE column_name LIKE 'pattern';

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

Pattern	Description	Matches Examples
'A%'	Starts with "A"	Alice, Andrew, Adam
'%n'	Ends with "n"	John, Ethan, Megan
'%an%'	Contains "an" anywhere	Daniel, Jonathan, Mandy
'____y'	Exactly 5 characters, ending in "y"	Emily, Jenny, Daisy
'%son'	Ends with "son"	Jackson, Anderson
'_o%'	"o" as the second character	Tom, Tony, Bob
CAST(name AS BINARY) LIKE 'David%'	Case-sensitive, starts with "David"	David (not david or DAVID)
'%\_admin%'	Search for "_admin" (escape `_`)	super_admin, user_admin

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Students" table in the school_db database:

student_id	name	gender	city	age	score	course_id	email	phone_number
1	Alice	Female	Delhi	20	85	101	NULL	1234567890
2	Bob	Male	Mumbai	22	75	NULL	bob@email.com	NULL
3	Charlie	Male	Delhi	21	95	102	NULL	NULL
4	David	Male	Bangalore	23	65	101	david@email.com	NULL
5	Eve	Female	Mumbai	20	80	103	NULL	NULL
6	Frank	Male	Delhi	22	90	103	NULL	NULL
7	Alice	Female	Mumbai	19	60	102	NULL	NULL

SQL LIKE Examples

The following SQL statement selects all students with a name starting with "A":

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name LIKE 'A%';

Try it yourself

The following SQL statement selects all students with a name ending with "e":

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name LIKE '%e';

Try it yourself

The following SQL statement selects all students with a name that have "an" in any position:

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name LIKE '%an%';

Try it yourself

The following SQL statement selects all studenst with a name that have "o" in the second position:

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name LIKE '_o%';

Try it yourself

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

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name LIKE 'a__%';

Try it yourself

The following SQL statement selects all studenst with a name that starts with "a" and ends with "e":

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name LIKE 'a%e';

Try it yourself

The following SQL statement selects all students with a name that does NOT start with "J":

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name NOT LIKE 'J%';

Try it yourself

The following SQL statement selects all students with a name that starts with case senstive "David":

Example

SELECT * FROM students

WHERE name LIKE BINARY 'David%';

Try it yourself

Note

By default, LIKE is case-insensitive in MySQL.

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MySQL LIKE Operator

Wildcards in LIKE

Basic Syntax

Demo Database

SQL LIKE Examples

MySQL `LIKE` Operator

Wildcards in `LIKE`