SQL Wildcards

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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 Get your own SQL Server

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

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%';

Try it Yourself »

Wildcard Characters
Symbol Description
 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

**

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SQL Database Using the % Wildcard

SQL Create DB
The % wildcard represents any number of
SQL Drop DB characters, even zero characters.
SQL Backup DB
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SQL Drop Table Example
SQL Alter Table
SQL Constraints Return all customers that ends with the pattern
SQL Not Null 'es':

SQL Unique
SELECT * FROM Customers
SQL Primary Key
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%es';
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Return all customers that contains the pattern
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'mer':
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SELECT * FROM Customers
SQL References WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%mer%';
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SQL Examples Using the _ Wildcard

SQL Examples The _ wildcard represents a single character.
SQL Editor
It can be any character or number, but each _
SQL Quiz
represents one, and only one, character.
SQL Exercises
SQL Server
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Example
SQL Certificate
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';
 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 »
 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
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 bl* finds bl, black,

or more blue, and blob
characters

? Represents a h?t finds hot, hat,

single character and hit

[] Represents any h[oa]t finds hot

single character and hat, but not
within the hit
brackets

! Represents any h[!oa]t finds hit,

character not in but not hot and
the brackets hat

- Represents any c[a-b]t finds cat

single character and cbt
within the
specified range

# Represents any 2#5 finds 205,

single numeric 215, 225, 235,
 character 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 ' %';

Submit Answer »

Start the Exercise

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