String searching means checking whether a text column contains a specific value, word, character, or pattern. SQL commonly uses operators and functions such as LIKE, CHARINDEX, POSITION, or database-specific alternatives.
Text search is a common requirement when analysts need to find customers, products, employees, addresses, or transactions matching a particular text pattern.
An analyst may need to find all customers whose names contain the word 'Kumar'.
SELECT
CustomerName
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%Kumar%';
String search is used in customer analysis, product searches, employee databases, support systems, and data-quality investigations.
- LIKE is commonly used for text searching.
- Wildcards can be used with LIKE.
- String functions can locate text positions.
- Search techniques depend on the database system.
- Text search is common in analytical queries.
How can you search for text in SQL?
You can use operators such as LIKE or string-search functions depending on the requirement and database system.
What does LIKE '%Kumar%' mean?
It searches for rows where the text contains 'Kumar' anywhere in the value.