Search for Exact String in MySQL

You can use binary to search for exact string in MySQL. The syntax is as follows:

SELECT * FROM yourTableName WHERE BINARY yourColumnName = yourStringValue;

To understand the above syntax, let us create a table. The query to create a table is as follows:

mysql> create table ExactSearch
   -> (
   -> Id int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
   -> UserId varchar(10),
   -> UserName varchar(20),
   -> PRIMARY KEY(Id)
   -> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.69 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command. The query is as follows:

mysql> insert into ExactSearch(UserId,UserName) values('USER12','John');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.11 sec)

mysql> insert into ExactSearch(UserId,UserName) values('12USER','Carol');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.20 sec)

mysql> insert into ExactSearch(UserId,UserName) values('USER123','Bob');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec)

mysql> insert into ExactSearch(UserId,UserName) values('USER231','Sam');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement:

mysql> select *from ExactSearch;

The following is the output:

+----+---------+----------+
| Id | UserId  | UserName |
+----+---------+----------+
|  1 | USER12  | John     |
|  2 | 12USER  | Carol    |
|  3 | USER123 | Bob      |
|  4 | USER231 | Sam      |
+----+---------+----------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Here is the query to search for exact string in MySQL. We are searching for string “USER123”:

mysql> select *from ExactSearch where binary UserId = 'USER123';

The following is the output:

+----+---------+----------+
| Id | UserId  | UserName |
+----+---------+----------+
| 3  | USER123 | Bob      |
+----+---------+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)