How do you use the LIKE operator in MySQL?

In MySQL, the LIKE operator is primarily used for fuzzy matching in the WHERE clause to match specific patterns within columns. When using the LIKE operator, it is common to combine the % wildcard (representing any number of characters) and the _ wildcard (representing a single character) to define patterns.

Basic Syntax

sql
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE columnN LIKE pattern;

Example

Assume we have a database table Employees with the following structure:

EmployeeID	FirstName	LastName
1	Alice	Smith
2	Bob	Johnson
3	Charlie	Brown
4	David	Lee
5	Eve	Arnold

Example 1: Using the % Wildcard

To find all employees whose last names end with "n", use the following SQL query:

sql
SELECT * FROM Employees
WHERE LastName LIKE '%n';

This will return:

EmployeeID	FirstName	LastName
2	Bob	Johnson
3	Charlie	Brown

Example 2: Using the _ Wildcard

To find all employees whose first names have 'a' as the second letter, use the following SQL query:

sql
SELECT * FROM Employees
WHERE FirstName LIKE '_a%';

This will return:

EmployeeID	FirstName	LastName
3	Charlie	Brown
4	David	Lee

Notes

• The search is case-sensitive when using LIKE.
• The % and _ wildcards can be used anywhere in the pattern and can be used multiple times.

As demonstrated by the examples above, the LIKE operator is highly useful for performing fuzzy matching queries.