Pattern Matching with LIKE

The LIKE operator lets you search for patterns in text, not just exact matches.

Wildcards

Wildcard	Meaning
%	Any sequence of characters (including none)
_	Exactly one character

Common Patterns

-- Starts with 'A'
WHERE name LIKE 'A%'

-- Ends with 'son'
WHERE name LIKE '%son'

-- Contains 'ar'
WHERE name LIKE '%ar%'

-- Second character is 'a'
WHERE name LIKE '_a%'

Exercises

Case Sensitivity

In SQLite (which powers this playground), LIKE is case-insensitive by default:

• 'Apple' LIKE 'a%' matches

In other databases like PostgreSQL, LIKE is case-sensitive. Use ILIKE for case-insensitive matching.

Free Practice

Try these patterns:

• Find all users with 3-letter names (___)
• Find users with emails from a specific domain
• Combine LIKE with other conditions using AND