How can i introduce multiple conditions in LIKE op

Question

I want to write an SQL statement like below:

select * from tbl where col like ('ABC%','XYZ%','PQR%');

I know it can be done using OR. But I want to know is there any better solution.

Answer 1

SELECT * From tbl WHERE col LIKE '[0-9,a-z]%';

simply use this condition of like in sql and you will get your desired answer

Answer 2

This might help:

select * from tbl where col like '[ABC-XYZ-PQR]%'

I've used this in SQL Server 2005 and it worked.

Answer 3

I also had the same requirement where I didn't have choice to pass like operator multiple times by either doing an OR or writing union query.

This worked for me in Oracle 11g:

REGEXP_LIKE (column, 'ABC.*|XYZ.*|PQR.*'); 

Answer 4

Here is an alternative way:

select * from tbl where col like 'ABC%'
union
select * from tbl where col like 'XYZ%'
union
select * from tbl where col like 'PQR%';

Here is the test code to verify:

create table tbl (col varchar(255));
insert into tbl (col) values ('ABCDEFG'), ('HIJKLMNO'), ('PQRSTUVW'), ('XYZ');
select * from tbl where col like 'ABC%'
union
select * from tbl where col like 'XYZ%'
union
select * from tbl where col like 'PQR%';
+----------+
| col      |
+----------+
| ABCDEFG  |
| XYZ      |
| PQRSTUVW |
+----------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Answer 5

This is a good use of a temporary table.

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE patterns (
  pattern VARCHAR(20)
);

INSERT INTO patterns VALUES ('ABC%'), ('XYZ%'), ('PQR%');

SELECT t.* FROM tbl t JOIN patterns p ON (t.col LIKE p.pattern);

In the example patterns, there's no way col could match more than one pattern, so you can be sure you'll see each row of tbl at most once in the result. But if your patterns are such that col could match more than one, you should use the DISTINCT query modifier.

SELECT DISTINCT t.* FROM tbl t JOIN patterns p ON (t.col LIKE p.pattern);

Answer 6

If your parameter value is not fixed or your value can be null based on business you can try the following approach.

DECLARE @DrugClassstring VARCHAR(MAX);
SET @DrugClassstring = 'C3,C2'; -- You can pass null also

---------------------------------------------

IF @DrugClassstring IS NULL 
    SET @DrugClassstring = 'C3,C2,C4,C5,RX,OT'; -- If null you can set your all conditional case that will return for all
SELECT dn.drugclass_FK , dn.cdrugname
FROM drugname AS dn
INNER JOIN dbo.SplitString(@DrugClassstring, ',') class ON dn.drugclass_FK = class.[Name] -- SplitString is a a function

SplitString function

SET ANSI_NULLS ON;
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON;
GO
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[SplitString](@stringToSplit VARCHAR(MAX),
                                   @delimeter     CHAR(1)      = ',')
RETURNS @returnList TABLE([Name] [NVARCHAR](500))
AS
     BEGIN

         --It's use in report sql, before any change concern to everyone

         DECLARE @name NVARCHAR(255);
         DECLARE @pos INT;
         WHILE CHARINDEX(@delimeter, @stringToSplit) > 0
             BEGIN
                 SELECT @pos = CHARINDEX(@delimeter, @stringToSplit);
                 SELECT @name = SUBSTRING(@stringToSplit, 1, @pos-1);
                 INSERT INTO @returnList
                        SELECT @name;
                 SELECT @stringToSplit = SUBSTRING(@stringToSplit, @pos+1, LEN(@stringToSplit)-@pos);
             END;
         INSERT INTO @returnList
                SELECT @stringToSplit;
         RETURN;
     END;