## LIKE vs LOCATE in MySQL: Which is Faster for Substring Searches?

MySQL LIKE vs LOCATE: Which Performs Better?

Database queries often involve searching for specific terms within table columns. Two common operators used for this purpose are LIKE and LOCATE. This article aims to determine which operator offers better performance when performing such searches.

LIKE vs LOCATE

The LIKE operator uses wildcard characters (%) to match any number of characters. In contrast, the LOCATE operator takes a string and returns the position of its first occurrence within the column.

Performance Comparison

Benchmarks have shown that the LIKE operator generally performs marginally faster than LOCATE. This is primarily because LIKE does not require an additional comparison ("> 0") to determine if the match is valid.

Benchmark Results

Using a benchmark test with 100 million iterations, the performance comparison yielded the following results:

Operator	Time (seconds)
LOCATE (without comparison)	3.24
LOCATE (with comparison)	4.63
LIKE	4.28

Conclusion

While the performance difference between LIKE and LOCATE is slight, LIKE emerges as the more efficient choice for substring searches. This advantage stems from its ability to avoid the additional comparison needed with LOCATE. However, it is important to note that these benchmarks may vary depending on the specific database version and table size.

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