Which operator performs pattern matching in SQL?
I am working with a team that is currently working on a project related to querying a database to find customer names with the letter ‘J’ that can contain any number of characters afterward. Which SQL operator would help me to perform this pattern-matching operation in my SQL query?
In the context of SQL the answer to your question about which operator performs pattern matching is the “Like” operator is used in pattern matching. It allows you to comparison of the value of a specific pattern. For it, this feature generally uses wildcard characters such as % ( matches any sequence of characters) and “-“ ( matches any single character)
Here is the instance given to showcase:-
Assuming ‘your_table’ and ‘your_column’ are placeholders for actual table and column names
Query to select rows where ‘your_column’ starts with ‘abc’
SELECT *
FROM your_table
WHERE your_column LIKE ‘abc%’;
Query to select rows where ‘your_column’ ends with ‘xyz’
SELECT *
FROM your_table
WHERE your_column LIKE ‘%xyz’;
Query to select rows where ‘your_column’ contains ‘123’ anywhere within the value
SELECT *
FROM your_table
WHERE your_column LIKE ‘3%’;
This above query will retrieve the records from “your table” where the “your column” values begin with the pattern. The wildcard of “%” allows you to follow any characters after “pattern”. Therefore, in your scenario for the letter “J” would be:-
Assuming ‘your_table’ and ‘your_column’ are placeholders for actual table and column names
Query to select rows where ‘your_column’ starts with ‘J’
SELECT *
FROM your_table
WHERE your_column LIKE ‘J%’;
Query to select rows where ‘your_column’ ends with ‘J’
SELECT *
FROM your_table
WHERE your_column LIKE ‘%J’;
Query to select rows where ‘your_column’ contains ‘J’ anywhere within the value
SELECT *
FROM your_table
WHERE your_column LIKE ‘%J%’;