SQLite GLOB operator is used to match only text values against a pattern using wildcards. If the search expression can be matched to the pattern expression, the GLOB operator will return true, which is 1. Unlike LIKE operator, GLOB is case sensitive and it follows syntax of UNIX for specifying THE following wildcards.
- The asterisk sign (*)
- The question mark (?)
The asterisk sign (*) represents zero or multiple numbers or characters. The question mark (?) represents a single number or character.
Syntax
Following is the basic syntax of * and ?.
SELECT FROM table_name WHERE column GLOB 'XXXX*' or SELECT FROM table_name WHERE column GLOB '*XXXX*' or SELECT FROM table_name WHERE column GLOB 'XXXX?' or SELECT FROM table_name WHERE column GLOB '?XXXX' or SELECT FROM table_name WHERE column GLOB '?XXXX?' or SELECT FROM table_name WHERE column GLOB '????'
You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators. Here, XXXX could be any numeric or string value.
Example
Following table lists a number of examples showing WHERE part having different LIKE clause with ‘*’ and ‘?’ operators.
| Sr.No. | Statement & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | WHERE SALARY GLOB ‘200*’Finds any values that start with 200 |
| 2 | WHERE SALARY GLOB ‘*200*’Finds any values that have 200 in any position |
| 3 | WHERE SALARY GLOB ‘?00*’Finds any values that have 00 in the second and third positions |
| 4 | WHERE SALARY GLOB ‘2??’Finds any values that start with 2 and are at least 3 characters in length |
| 5 | WHERE SALARY GLOB ‘*2’Finds any values that end with 2 |
| 6 | WHERE SALARY GLOB ‘?2*3’Finds any values that have a 2 in the second position and end with a 3 |
| 7 | WHERE SALARY GLOB ‘2???3’Finds any values in a five-digit number that start with 2 and end with 3 |
Let us take a real example, consider COMPANY table with the following records −
ID NAME AGE ADDRESS SALARY ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 1 Paul 32 California 20000.0 2 Allen 25 Texas 15000.0 3 Teddy 23 Norway 20000.0 4 Mark 25 Rich-Mond 65000.0 5 David 27 Texas 85000.0 6 Kim 22 South-Hall 45000.0 7 James 24 Houston 10000.0
Following is an example, which will display all the records from COMPANY table, where AGE starts with 2.
sqlite> SELECT * FROM COMPANY WHERE AGE GLOB '2*';
This will produce the following result.
ID NAME AGE ADDRESS SALARY ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 2 Allen 25 Texas 15000.0 3 Teddy 23 Norway 20000.0 4 Mark 25 Rich-Mond 65000.0 5 David 27 Texas 85000.0 6 Kim 22 South-Hall 45000.0 7 James 24 Houston 10000.0
Following is an example, which will display all the records from COMPANY table where ADDRESS will have a hyphen (-) inside the text −
sqlite> SELECT * FROM COMPANY WHERE ADDRESS GLOB '*-*';
This will produce the following result.
ID NAME AGE ADDRESS SALARY ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 4 Mark 25 Rich-Mond 65000.0 6 Kim 22 South-Hall 45000.0