- PDO LIKE
- Introduction to the SQL LIKE operator
- Execute a query that contains the LIKE operator in PDO
- Summary
- MySQLi — Like Clause
- Syntax
- Using the LIKE clause at the Command Prompt
- Example
- Using LIKE clause inside PHP Script
- Syntax
- Example
- Output
- MySQL — LIKE Clause
- Syntax
- Using the LIKE clause at the Command Prompt
- Example
- Using LIKE clause inside PHP Script
- Syntax
- Example
- Output
PDO LIKE
Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use PDO to execute a query with the LIKE operator.
Introduction to the SQL LIKE operator
The LIKE operator returns true if a character string matches a specified pattern. Typically, a pattern includes wildcard characters like:
For example, the %er% will match any string that contains the string er , e.g., peter , understand , etc.
Typically, you use the LIKE operator in the WHERE clause of the SELECT , UPDATE , and DELETE statement.
Execute a query that contains the LIKE operator in PDO
To execute a query that contains a LIKE operator in PDO, you need to construct the pattern upfront.
For example, to select the book with titles that contain the string ‘es, you first construct a SELECT statement like this:
$sql = 'SELECT book_id, title FROM books WHERE title LIKE :pattern';Code language: PHP (php)And then bind the string ‘%es%’ to the prepared statement.
The following example illustrates how to execute a query that includes the LIKE operator:
/** * Find books by title based on a pattern */ function find_book_by_title(\PDO $pdo, string $keyword): array < $pattern = '%' . $keyword . '%'; $sql = 'SELECT book_id, title FROM books WHERE title LIKE :pattern'; $statement = $pdo->prepare($sql); $statement->execute([':pattern' => $pattern]); return $statement->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC); > // connect to the database $pdo = require 'connect.php'; // find books with the title matches 'es' $books = find_book_by_title($pdo, 'es'); foreach ($books as $book) < echo $book['title'] . '
'; >Code language: PHP (php)The function find_book_by_title() returns the books with the title that matches with the $keyword .
First, make the pattern by adding the wildcard characters to the beginning and end of the $keyword :
$pattern = '%' . $keyword . '%';Code language: PHP (php)Second, construct an SQL statement that contains a LIKE operator in the WHERE clause:
$sql = 'SELECT book_id, title FROM books WHERE title LIKE :pattern';Code language: PHP (php)Third, create a prepared statement:
$statement = $pdo->prepare($sql);Code language: PHP (php)After that, execute the statement with the value that comes from the pattern:
$statement->execute([':pattern' => $pattern]);Code language: PHP (php)Finally, return all rows from the result set by using the fetchAll() method:
return $statement->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);Code language: PHP (php)The following code find books with the title contains the keyword ‘es’ :
// connect to the database $pdo = require 'connect.php'; // find books with the title matches 'es' $books = find_book_by_title($pdo, 'es'); foreach ($books as $book) < echo $book['title'] . '
'; >Code language: PHP (php)Marcus Makes a Movie Box of ButterfliesCode language: PHP (php)Summary
MySQLi — Like Clause
We have seen the SQL SELECT command to fetch data from the MySQL table. We can also use a conditional clause called as the WHERE clause to select the required records.
A WHERE clause with the ‘equal to’ sign (=) works fine where we want to do an exact match. Like if «tutorial_author = ‘Sanjay'». But there may be a requirement where we want to filter out all the results where tutorial_author name should contain «jay». This can be handled using SQL LIKE Clause along with the WHERE clause.
If the SQL LIKE clause is used along with the % character, then it will work like a meta character (*) as in UNIX, while listing out all the files or directories at the command prompt. Without a % character, the LIKE clause is very same as the equal to sign along with the WHERE clause.
Syntax
The following code block has a generic SQL syntax of the SELECT command along with the LIKE clause to fetch data from a MySQL table.
SELECT field1, field2. fieldN table_name1, table_name2. WHERE field1 LIKE condition1 [AND [OR]] filed2 = 'somevalue'
- You can specify any condition using the WHERE clause.
- You can use the LIKE clause along with the WHERE clause.
- You can use the LIKE clause in place of the equals to sign.
- When LIKE is used along with % sign then it will work like a meta character search.
- You can specify more than one condition using AND or OR operators.
- A WHERE. LIKE clause can be used along with DELETE or UPDATE SQL command also to specify a condition.
Using the LIKE clause at the Command Prompt
This will use the SQL SELECT command with the WHERE. LIKE clause to fetch the selected data from the MySQL table – tutorials_tbl.
Example
The following example will return all the records from the tutorials_tbl table for which the author name ends with jay −
root@host# mysql -u root -p password; Enter password:******* mysql> use TUTORIALS; Database changed mysql> SELECT * from tutorials_tbl → WHERE tutorial_author LIKE '%jay'; +-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | tutorial_id | tutorial_title | tutorial_author | submission_date | +-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | 3 | JAVA Tutorial | Sanjay | 2007-05-21 | +-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ 1 rows in set (0.01 sec) mysql>
Using LIKE clause inside PHP Script
PHP uses mysqli query() or mysql_query() function to select records in a MySQL table using Like clause. This function takes two parameters and returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure.
Syntax
Required — SQL query to select records in a MySQL table using Like Clause.
Optional — Either the constant MYSQLI_USE_RESULT or MYSQLI_STORE_RESULT depending on the desired behavior. By default, MYSQLI_STORE_RESULT is used.
Example
Try the following example to select a record using like clause in a table −
Copy and paste the following example as mysql_example.php −
", $mysqli→connect_error); exit(); > printf('Connected successfully.
'); $sql = 'SELECT tutorial_id, tutorial_title, tutorial_author, submission_date FROM tutorials_tbl where tutorial_author like "Mah%"'; $result = $mysqli→query($sql); if ($result→num_rows > 0) < while($row = $result→fetch_assoc()) < printf("Id: %s, Title: %s, Author: %s, Date: %d
", $row["tutorial_id"], $row["tutorial_title"], $row["tutorial_author"], $row["submission_date"]); > > else < printf('No record found.
'); > mysqli_free_result($result); $mysqli→close(); ?> Output
Access the mysql_example.php deployed on apache web server and verify the output. Here we’ve entered multiple records in the table before running the select script.
Connected successfully. Id: 1, Title: MySQL Tutorial, Author: Mahesh, Date: 2021 Id: 2, Title: HTML Tutorial, Author: Mahesh, Date: 2021 Id: 3, Title: PHP Tutorial, Author: Mahesh, Date: 2021
MySQL — LIKE Clause
We have seen the SQL SELECT command to fetch data from the MySQL table. We can also use a conditional clause called as the WHERE clause to select the required records.
A WHERE clause with the ‘equal to’ sign (=) works fine where we want to do an exact match. Like if «tutorial_author = ‘Sanjay'». But there may be a requirement where we want to filter out all the results where tutorial_author name should contain «jay». This can be handled using SQL LIKE Clause along with the WHERE clause.
If the SQL LIKE clause is used along with the % character, then it will work like a meta character (*) as in UNIX, while listing out all the files or directories at the command prompt. Without a % character, the LIKE clause is very same as the equal to sign along with the WHERE clause.
Syntax
The following code block has a generic SQL syntax of the SELECT command along with the LIKE clause to fetch data from a MySQL table.
SELECT field1, field2. fieldN table_name1, table_name2. WHERE field1 LIKE condition1 [AND [OR]] filed2 = 'somevalue'
- You can specify any condition using the WHERE clause.
- You can use the LIKE clause along with the WHERE clause.
- You can use the LIKE clause in place of the equals to sign.
- When LIKE is used along with % sign then it will work like a meta character search.
- You can specify more than one condition using AND or OR operators.
- A WHERE. LIKE clause can be used along with DELETE or UPDATE SQL command also to specify a condition.
Using the LIKE clause at the Command Prompt
This will use the SQL SELECT command with the WHERE. LIKE clause to fetch the selected data from the MySQL table – tutorials_tbl.
Example
The following example will return all the records from the tutorials_tbl table for which the author name ends with jay −
root@host# mysql -u root -p password; Enter password:******* mysql> use TUTORIALS; Database changed mysql> SELECT * from tutorials_tbl -> WHERE tutorial_author LIKE '%jay'; +-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | tutorial_id | tutorial_title | tutorial_author | submission_date | +-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | 3 | JAVA Tutorial | Sanjay | 2007-05-21 | +-------------+----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ 1 rows in set (0.01 sec) mysql>
Using LIKE clause inside PHP Script
PHP uses mysqli query() or mysql_query() function to select records in a MySQL table using Like clause. This function takes two parameters and returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure.
Syntax
Required — SQL query to select records in a MySQL table using Like Clause.
Optional — Either the constant MYSQLI_USE_RESULT or MYSQLI_STORE_RESULT depending on the desired behavior. By default, MYSQLI_STORE_RESULT is used.
Example
Try the following example to select a record using like clause in a table −
Copy and paste the following example as mysql_example.php −
connect_errno ) < printf("Connect failed: %s
", $mysqli->connect_error); exit(); > printf('Connected successfully.
'); $sql = 'SELECT tutorial_id, tutorial_title, tutorial_author, submission_date FROM tutorials_tbl where tutorial_author like "Mah%"'; $result = $mysqli->query($sql); if ($result->num_rows > 0) < while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) < printf("Id: %s, Title: %s, Author: %s, Date: %d
", $row["tutorial_id"], $row["tutorial_title"], $row["tutorial_author"], $row["submission_date"]); > > else < printf('No record found.
'); > mysqli_free_result($result); $mysqli->close(); ?> Output
Access the mysql_example.php deployed on apache web server and verify the output. Here we’ve entered multiple records in the table before running the select script.
Connected successfully. Id: 1, Title: MySQL Tutorial, Author: Mahesh, Date: 2021 Id: 2, Title: HTML Tutorial, Author: Mahesh, Date: 2021 Id: 3, Title: PHP Tutorial, Author: Mahesh, Date: 2021