What does % in mysql mean?

The % wildcard character in MySQL is used for pattern matching in the LIKE operator, representing zero or more characters. It can be used to find all strings that start with or contain a given pattern, and optionally find strings that end with a given pattern. In addition to %, MySQL provides other wildcard characters, including _, [], ^, and $.

The % wildcard character in MySQL

The % in MySQL is a wildcard character, representing zero or more characters . It is used in the LIKE operator for pattern matching.

Syntax

<code>LIKE 'pattern%'</code>

Where:

• pattern is the string pattern to be matched
• % is a wildcard character, indicating zero or more characters

Usage

You can use the % wildcard character to match the following conditions String:

• Starts with the given pattern
• Contains extensions of any length to the given pattern
• Optionally, appends any Amount of additional characters

Example

For example, the following query will find all names starting with "John":

<code>SELECT * FROM names WHERE name LIKE 'John%'</code>

This will Returns the following results:

<code>John
John Doe
John Smith</code>

Similarly, the following query will find all words ending with "ing":

<code>SELECT * FROM words WHERE word LIKE '%ing'</code>

This will return the following results:

<code>singing
dancing
running</code>

Other Wildcard characters

In addition to %, MySQL also provides the following wildcard characters:

• _: matches any single character
• []: Matches characters within the specified range
• ^: Negative pattern matching
• $: Matches the end of the string

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