SQL LIKE Multiple Values
Match several text patterns without losing readability.
What this solves
Find material descriptions containing Cable, Filter or Valve. This pattern is useful when the business question is clear but a generic tutorial is too abstract.
The rule
Use OR between LIKE predicates or a lookup table when the list becomes long.
SELECT Material, Description
FROM Materials
WHERE Description LIKE '%Cable%'
OR Description LIKE '%Filter%';Real-work checklist
- Define the business key and expected grain before writing the formula, query or markup.
- Test the pattern on a small known sample where you can verify the answer manually.
- Check missing values, duplicates and data types before trusting a large result.
- Scale to the real file or database only after the logic is proven.
Common mistake
Long chains of OR conditions become hard to maintain; move large pattern lists into data.