Final answer:
In SQL, to use multiple values with the LIKE operator, combine multiple LIKE conditions using OR, or use pattern matching if applicable. The LIKE operator matches a single pattern, so complex matching requires OR or possibly regular expressions in some SQL variants.
Step-by-step explanation:
Using Multiple Values with LIKE in SQL
To use multiple values in a LIKE operator in SQL, you typically have to use OR to combine multiple LIKE conditions, or you can use a pattern matching technique. However, it's important to remember that the LIKE operator is designed to match a single string pattern against a column. If you need to match against various specific patterns, you would use the OR operator as follows:
SELECT * FROM table_name
WHERE column_name LIKE '%pattern1%'
OR column_name LIKE '%pattern2%'
OR column_name LIKE '%pattern3%';
Yet, if your patterns can be represented in a single string using wildcard characters ('%'), you can sometimes combine them into one LIKE condition. Note that this will only work for patterns that have a common structure.
Example:
SELECT * FROM products
WHERE product_name LIKE 'Pen%Blue';
This example would match any product name starting with 'Pen' and immediately followed by anything ending with 'Blue'. It's less common but handy in specific scenarios.
For more complex pattern matching, where patterns don't have a common structure, the use of multiple OR conditions is necessary. It's also possible to use regular expressions in some SQL variations, like REGEXP in MySQL, to handle complex pattern matches without multiple LIKE statements.