Percent character (wildcard - character(s) to match) (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

Matches any string of zero or more characters. This wildcard character can be used as a prefix, a suffix, or in the middle of the string. The pattern string can contain more than one % wildcard.

Examples

Example A: Match end of string

The following example returns the first and last names of people in the Person.Person table of AdventureWorks2022, where the first name starts with Dan.

SELECT FirstName, LastName
FROM Person.Person
WHERE FirstName LIKE 'Dan%';
GO

Example B: Match middle of string

The following example returns the first and last names of people in the Person.Person table of AdventureWorks2022, where the first name starts with J and ends with n.

SELECT FirstName, LastName
FROM Person.Person
WHERE FirstName LIKE 'J%n';
GO

See also