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SQL Tutorial

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SQL Wildcards


SQL Wildcard Characters

A wildcard character is used to substitute one or more characters in a string.

Wildcard characters are used with the LIKE operator. The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.

Example

Return all customers that starts with the letter 'a':

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%';
Try it Yourself »

Wildcard Characters

Symbol Description
% Represents zero or more characters
_ Represents a single character
[] Represents any single character within the brackets *
^ Represents any character not in the brackets *
- Represents any single character within the specified range *
{} Represents any escaped character **

* Not supported in PostgreSQL and MySQL databases.

** Supported only in Oracle databases.


Demo Database

Below is a selection from the Customers table used in the examples:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
1

Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución 2222 México D.F. 05021 Mexico
3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México D.F. 05023 Mexico
4

Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berglund Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden


Using the % Wildcard

The % wildcard represents any number of characters, even zero characters.

Example

Return all customers that ends with the pattern 'es':

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%es';
Try it Yourself »

Example

Return all customers that contains the pattern 'mer':

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%mer%';
Try it Yourself »

Using the _ Wildcard

The _ wildcard represents a single character.

It can be any character or number, but each _ represents one, and only one, character.

Example

Return all customers with a City starting with any character, followed by "ondon":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '_ondon';
Try it Yourself »

Example

Return all customers with a City starting with "L", followed by any 3 characters, ending with "on":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE 'L___on';
Try it Yourself »

Using the [] Wildcard

The [] wildcard returns a result if any of the characters inside gets a match.

Example

Return all customers starting with either "b", "s", or "p":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '[bsp]%';
Try it Yourself »

Using the - Wildcard

The - wildcard allows you to specify a range of characters inside the [] wildcard.

Example

Return all customers starting with "a", "b", "c", "d", "e" or "f":

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '[a-f]%';
Try it Yourself »

Combine Wildcards

Any wildcard, like % and _ , can be used in combination with other wildcards.

Example

Return all customers that starts with "a" and are at least 3 characters in length:

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a__%';
Try it Yourself »

Example

Return all customers that have "r" in the second position:

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%';
Try it Yourself »

Without Wildcard

If no wildcard is specified, the phrase has to have an exact match to return a result.

Example

Return all customers from Spain:

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country LIKE 'Spain';
Try it Yourself »

Microsoft Access Wildcards

The Microsoft Access Database has some other wildcards:

Symbol Description Example
* Represents zero or more characters bl* finds bl, black, blue, and blob
? Represents a single character h?t finds hot, hat, and hit
[] Represents any single character within the brackets h[oa]t finds hot and hat, but not hit
! Represents any character not in the brackets h[!oa]t finds hit, but not hot and hat
- Represents any single character within the specified range c[a-b]t finds cat and cbt
# Represents any single numeric character 2#5 finds 205, 215, 225, 235, 245, 255, 265, 275, 285, and 295

Test Yourself With Exercises

Exercise:

Select all records where the second letter of the City is an "a".

SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '%';

Start the Exercise


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