LIKE

Returns TRUE if a string matches a specified pattern with wildcards.

Signatures

Returns: TRUE if string matches pattern, FALSE otherwise

LIKE(string: VARCHAR, pattern: VARCHAR, [escape: VARCHAR]) → BOOLEAN

sql

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`string`	`VARCHAR`	Yes	String expression to test
`pattern`	`VARCHAR`	Yes	Pattern string with wildcards (% for any characters, _ for single character)
`escape`	`VARCHAR`	No	Optional escape character to treat wildcards literally

Notes

Uses SQL wildcard pattern matching
% matches zero or more characters
_ matches exactly one character
Case-sensitive matching
NULL inputs return NULL
Use ESCAPE clause to treat wildcard characters literally
Common escape character is backslash ()
Can be used with operator syntax: string LIKE pattern

Examples

Basic pattern matching

FeatureQL

SELECT
    f1 := 'hello' LIKE 'h%',  -- Starts with 'h'
    f2 := 'hello' LIKE '%o',  -- Ends with 'o'
    f3 := 'hello' LIKE '%ll%',  -- Contains 'll'
    f4 := 'hello' LIKE 'h_llo',  -- Single character wildcard
    f5 := 'hello' LIKE 'world',  -- No match
    f6 := 'hello' LIKE 'HELLO'  -- Case sensitive
;

Result

f1 BOOLEAN	f2 BOOLEAN	f3 BOOLEAN	f4 BOOLEAN	f5 BOOLEAN	f6 BOOLEAN
TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE

NULL handling

FeatureQL

SELECT
    f1 := NULL::VARCHAR LIKE 'pattern',  -- NULL string
    f2 := 'text' LIKE NULL::VARCHAR  -- NULL pattern
;

Result

f1 BOOLEAN	f2 BOOLEAN
NULL	NULL

Advanced patterns

FeatureQL

SELECT
    f1 := 'file.txt' LIKE '%.txt',  -- File extension
    f2 := '100%' LIKE '100\%'  -- Escaped percent
;

Result

f1 BOOLEAN	f2 BOOLEAN
TRUE	TRUE

Suggest changes to this page

Last update at: 2026/03/03 16:47:38

On this page

Signatures Notes See also Examples Basic pattern matching NULL handling Advanced patterns