SQL i.e. Structured Query Language is one of the most widely known query languages for processing and manipulating data.

Although SQL is easy to comprehend and implement, it is a storehouse of functions and clauses that it gets challenging to keep a tab.

In this blog, we will see some most common yet important SQL clauses and operators to retrieve information while dealing with strings and pattern matching.

Like Operator

The LIKE operator is a pattern-matching operator used in SQL to search for a specified pattern in a column. It is often used in conjunction with the WHERE clause to filter results based on a partial match of a string. The wildcard characters "%" and "_" can be used in the pattern to match any number of characters or a single character, respectively. For example:

1. SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE '%A%';

   This query would return all rows from the table table_name where the value in column column_name with the letter "A".

2. SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE 'A%';

   This query would return all rows from the table table_name where the value in column column_name starts with the letter "A".

3. SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE '%A';

   This query would return all rows from the table table_name where the value in column column_name ends with the letter "A".

4. SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE '_A%';

   This query would return all rows from the table table_name where the second value in column column_name corresponds with the letter "A".

IN Operator

The IN operator in SQL is used to determine if a specified value matches any value in a list of values or the result of a subquery. The IN operator is used in the WHERE clause to filter data based on multiple values. For example:

SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name IN ('value1', 'value2', 'value3');

This query would return all rows from the table table_name where the value in column column_name is either 'value1', 'value2', or 'value3'

The IN operator can also be used with a subquery, for example:

SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name IN (SELECT column_name FROM another_table);

This query would return all rows from the table table_name where the value in column column_name is present in the result of the subquery, which selects data from another_table.

Similar to Operator

It is to match a specified pattern in a string, similar to the LIKE operator. The difference is that the SIMILAR TO operator uses a more powerful regular expression syntax.

SELECT FROM table_name WHERE column_name SIMILAR TO 'A(.)';

This query would return all rows from the table table_name where the value in column column_name starts with the letter "A" followed by any number of characters.

That covers most of the pattern-matching operators. For any query or feedback please comment down below.

Keep learning, Keep upskilling ;)