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title: LIKE Clause
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---

# LIKE Clause

Use `LIKE` to match single characters and patterns found anywhere in a string—beginning, ending, or somewhere in between.

`LIKE` takes this syntax.

`[NOT] LIKE {pattern}`

`NOT`—Optional.

Returns `True` if the left operand matches the pattern on the right. This operator is case-sensitive. A pattern must be at least two characters.

To match any single character in the string, include an underscore (`_`). To match any pattern, include a percent sign (`%`). Starting a pattern with a percent sign returns all words that end with the specified characters. The percent sign indicates that any number of characters can precede the specified ones. Ending a pattern with a percent sign returns all the words that begin with the specified characters. Any number of characters can follow the specified ones. To match a pattern anywhere in a string, the pattern must start and end with a percent sign.

For example, let's say we have a list of countries. A query that filters on the pattern `%a%a%` returns Bahamas, Jamaica, Slovakia, and Trinidad and Tobago. If we change the pattern to `_a_a___`, the query returns Bahamas and Jamaica.

To include a literal percent sign or underscore in a pattern, escape them with a backwards slash (`\`).

Additional wildcard characters and regular expressions aren’t supported.

Here are some more examples.

## Simple Pattern in a String

This example checks whether a customer name contains the characters "ni" anywhere in the string. If the string contains "ni", then the condition evaluates to `True` and the query returns the name.

```nolang
SELECT Customer_Name as 'name'
FROM "Superstore"
WHERE Customer_Name LIKE "%ni%";
GROUP BY Customer_Name;
LIMIT 5;
```

| name            |
| --------------- |
| Annie Thurman   |
| Annie Zypern    |
| Benjamin Venier |
| Berenike Kampe  |
| Chad Cunningham |

## One Underscore

This query returns city names that contain any single character preceding "lb" and zero or more characters following it.

```nolang
SELECT City as 'city'
FROM "Superstore"
WHERE City LIKE "_lb%";
GROUP BY City;
```

| city        |
| ----------- |
| Albuquerque |

## Multiple Underscores

If we precede the characters "lb" with two underscores, the query returns results that have any two characters before "lb."

```nolang
SELECT City as 'city'
FROM "Superstore"
WHERE City LIKE "__lb%";
GROUP BY City;
```

| city      |
| --------- |
| Gilbert   |
| Melbourne |

## End with Percent Sign

This query matches names that begin with "An." These names include Andrew Levine, Annette Boone, Annette Cline, and Annie Horne.

```nolang
WHERE Customer_Name LIKE "An%"
```

## Exclude Records with NOT

This query shows all customer names that don’t contain "po." These names include Aaron Davies Bruce, Aaron Day, Aaron Dillon, and Aaron Riggs.

```nolang
WHERE NOT Customer_Name LIKE "%po%"
```