SQL like search string starts with

Question

Studying SQL. Have a straightforward table game with a field name. I want to perform a title-based search. The search returns the record with that name if I have a game called Age of Empires III: Dynasties and I use LIKE with the parameter Age of Empires III: Dynasties. However, a search in Age of Empires III yields no results:

SELECT * from games WHERE (lower(title) LIKE 'age of empires III');

This doesn't return anything. Should I be using something else instead of LIKE?

Answer 1

SELECT * from games WHERE (lower(title) LIKE 'age of empires III');

Because the exact string "age of empires III" isn't found in any records, the query mentioned above doesn't provide any results.

Therefore, you must use "%your string goes here%" to match this string with another string with "age of empires" as a substring.

More on MySQL string comparison

Try this

SELECT * from games WHERE (lower(title) LIKE '%age of empires III%');

In Like '%age of empires III%' this will search for any matching substring in your rows, and it will show in results.