Understanding the differences between LIKE, ILIKE, and RLIKE in SQL is crucial for creating reports, querying data, or performing text searches in a relational database. These operators help you filter records using partial string matches, enhancing your SQL queries.
1. SQL LIKE Operator
The LIKE operator is used for basic pattern matching. It’s case-sensitive in most databases (like MySQL and PostgreSQL).
SELECT * FROM customers WHERE name LIKE 'J%';
This query returns names starting with “J”, such as “John” or “Jane”.
Wildcard options:
%matches zero or more characters_matches exactly one character
2. SQL ILIKE Operator
ILIKE is a case-insensitive version of LIKE. It’s commonly supported in PostgreSQL but not in MySQL.
SELECT * FROM customers WHERE name ILIKE 'j%';
This matches both “john” and “John” — great for searches where case doesn’t matter.
3. SQL RLIKE or REGEXP Operator
RLIKE is used in MySQL and is equivalent to REGEXP. It allows regular expression matching.
SELECT * FROM customers WHERE name RLIKE '^J.*';
This returns all names starting with “J” using regex, offering more complex search patterns.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right pattern-matching operator—LIKE, ILIKE, or RLIKE—depends on your database and search requirements.
For modern data-driven applications or reporting dashboards, mastering these SQL operators helps improve both query accuracy and user experience.
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