SHOW TABLES statement with multiple LIKE values

Question

mysql> SHOW TABLES like 'cms';
+-------------------------+
| Tables_in_tianyan (cms) |
+-------------------------+
| cms                     |
+-------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Result

mysql> SHOW TABLES like 'cms' or like 'role';
ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual...

How can I filter by multiple conditions ?

Answer 1

You need to use the WHERE clause. As shown in the docs, you can only have a single pattern if you use "SHOW TABLES LIKE ...", but you can use an expression in the WHERE clause if you use "SHOW TABLES WHERE ...". Since you want an expression, you need to use the WHERE clause.

SHOW TABLES
FROM `<yourdbname>`
WHERE 
    `Tables_in_<yourdbname>` LIKE '%cms%'
    OR `Tables_in_<yourdbname>` LIKE '%role%';