Categories:

String & binary functions (Matching/Comparison)

LIKE ANY

Performs a case-sensitive comparison to match a string against any of one or more specified patterns. Use this function in a WHERE clause to filter for matches. For case-insensitive matching, use ILIKE ANY instead.

Tip

You can use the search optimization service to improve the performance of queries that call this function. For details, see Search Optimization Service.

See also:

[ NOT ] LIKE , ILIKE ANY

Syntax

<subject> LIKE ANY (<pattern1> [, <pattern2> ... ] ) [ ESCAPE <escape_char> ]
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Arguments

Required:

subject

The string to compare to the pattern(s).

pattern#

The pattern(s) that the string is to be compared to. You must specify at least one pattern.

Optional:

escape_char

Character(s) inserted in front of a wildcard character to indicate that the wildcard should be interpreted as a regular character rather than as a wildcard.

Returns

Returns a BOOLEAN or NULL. The value is TRUE if there is a match. Otherwise, returns FALSE. Returns NULL if any argument is NULL.

Usage notes

  • To include single quotes or other special characters in pattern matching, you can use a backslash escape sequence.

  • NULL does not match NULL. In other words, if the subject is NULL and one of the patterns is NULL, that is not considered a match.

  • You can use the NOT logical operator before the subject to perform a case-sensitive comparison that returns TRUE if it does not match any of the specified patterns.

  • SQL wildcards are supported in pattern:

    • An underscore (_) matches any single character.

    • A percent sign (%) matches any sequence of zero or more characters.

  • Wildcards in pattern include newline characters (n) in subject as matches.

  • The pattern is considered a match if the pattern matches the entire input string (subject). To match a sequence anywhere within a string, start and end the pattern with % (e.g. %something%).

  • If the function is used with a subquery, the subquery should return a single row.

    For example, the following should be used only if the subquery returns a single row:

    SELECT ...
  WHERE x LIKE ANY (SELECT ...)
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Collation details

Only the upper, lower, and trim collation specifications are supported. Combinations with upper, lower, and trim are also supported (for example, upper-trim and lower-trim), except for locale combinations (for example, en-upper).

Examples

Create a table that contains some strings:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE like_example(name VARCHAR(20));
INSERT INTO like_example VALUES
    ('John  Dddoe'),
    ('Joe   Doe'),
    ('John_down'),
    ('Joe down'),
    ('Tom   Doe'),
    ('Tim down'),
    (null);
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This query shows how to use patterns with wildcards (%) to find matches:

SELECT * 
  FROM like_example 
  WHERE name LIKE ANY ('%Jo%oe%','T%e')
  ORDER BY name;
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+-------------+                                                                 
| NAME        |
|-------------|
| Joe   Doe   |
| John  Dddoe |
| Tom   Doe   |
+-------------+

This query shows how to use an escape character to indicate that a character that is usually a wild card (_) should be treated as a literal.

SELECT * 
  FROM like_example 
  WHERE name LIKE ANY ('%J%h%^_do%', 'T%^%e') ESCAPE '^'
  ORDER BY name;
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+-----------+                                                                   
| NAME      |
|-----------|
| John_down |
+-----------+
Language: English