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The "like" operator

The like operator allows you to check if a value matches a pattern. It can be used with the operator not to check if a value does not match the pattern specified. The expression is structured as follows:
value like pattern
You can use the following wildcards in the pattern:
Symbol Description Example
% Matches zero or more characters. Pattern: "bl%"
  • Matches: "black", "blue"
  • Does not match: "able"
_ Matches a single character. Pattern: "h_t"
  • Matches: "hit", "hat"
  • Does not match: "heat"
[] Matches any single character within the brackets. Pattern: "b[ae]t"
  • Matches: "bat", "bet"
  • Does not match: "beat"
[start-end] Matches any single character within the specified range. Pattern: "[b-d]at"
  • Matches: "bat", "cat", "dat"
  • Does not match: "data"
[^characters] Matches any character not in the brackets. Pattern: "h[^oa]t"
  • Matches: "hit", "hut"
  • Does not match: "hot", "hat"

Examples

Clause Result 
WHERE name LIKE "a%"
 Returns any element where the value of name starts with a. 
WHERE name LIKE "%a"
Returns any element where the value of name ends with a. 
WHERE name LIKE "%bir%"
Returns any element where the value of name contains bir. 
WHERE name LIKE "_r%"
 Returns any element where the second character of the value of nameis r. 
WHERE name LIKE "a__%"
 Returns any element where value of name starts with a, followed by at least two characters. 
WHERE name LIKE "a%o"
 Returns any element where value of name starts with a and ends with o. 
WHERE name NOT LIKE "%[A-Z]"
 Returns any element where value of name does not end with a capital letter. 
WHERE name NOT LIKE "%[^0-9]%"
 Returns any element where value of name only contains numbers.

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