SQL LIKE Operator and Wildcard Characters

             LIKE operator in SQL is used with WHERE Clause to select a specific row or value which matches the specified pattern.

We use the following wildcards with LIKE operator 

Symbol	Description
%	Represents zero or more character
_	Represents a single character
[]	Represents any single character within bracket
^	Represents any character not in bracket
-	Represents a single character within a specific range

Syntax:

        SELECT col(s) FROM table_name WHERE col_name LIKE pattern;

Example:

        SELECT * FROM Employee WHERE emp_fname LIKE "[Pp]%

Let say you want to find all rows:

    - whose column col_name starts with P :

        SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE col_name LIKE "P%"

    - which ends with P

        SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE col_name LIKE  "%P"

    

    - starts with P, ends with t and contain exactly 4 characters:

        SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE col_name LIKE "P_ _ t"