A wildcard character can be used to substitute for any other character(s) in a string.
SQL Wildcard Characters
In SQL, wildcard characters are used with the SQL LIKE operator.
SQL wildcards are used to search for data within a table.
With SQL, the wildcards are:
| Wildcard | Description |
|---|---|
| % | A substitute for zero or more characters |
| _ | A substitute for a single character |
| [charlist] | Sets and ranges of characters to match |
| [^charlist] or [!charlist] |
Matches only a character NOT specified within the brackets |
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City LIKE '[bsp]%';
or
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City LIKE 'L_n_on';
or
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City LIKE '_erlin';
or
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City LIKE '%es%';