PHP SQL LIKE Operator

This example illustrates how to use the like operator in sql query.

PHP SQL LIKE Operator

PHP SQL LIKE Operator

     

This example illustrates how to use the like operator in sql query.

The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for  matching strings based on the specified pattern in a column.  The "%" wildcard can be used to specify the missing letters in the pattern. This wild card can be used at any place in the pattern. This example takes table emp for the query execution.

 

 

 

 

Table: emp

 

Source Code of likeOperator.php

<?php
  $con = mysql_connect("localhost","root","root");
  if (!$con) {
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  }
  mysql_select_db("test", $con);

  $result = mysql_query("select * from emp where name like '%sh%'");
  echo "<table border='1'>
  <tr>
  <th>id</th>
  <th>Name</th>
  </tr>";
  while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
  echo "<tr>";
  echo "<td>" . $row['emp_id'] "</td>";
  echo "<td>" . $row['name'] "</td>";
  echo "</tr>";
  }
  echo "</table>";
  
  mysql_close($con);
?>

Download Source Code

The above query returns only the rows which has data in the name column having pattern '%sh%' i.e. The names which have 'sh' string in between and there may be any string before and after the 'sh' string.

Output:

In the query below, we want to find names which start from s.

$result = mysql_query("select * from emp where name like 's%'");

In the query below, we want to find names which end with h.

$result = mysql_query("select * from emp where name like '%h'");

In the query below, we want to find names in which a must be available.

$result = mysql_query("select * from emp where name like '%a%'");