'LIKE ('%this%' OR '%that%') and something=else' not working

mysql sql sql-like
Kevin Ohashi picture Kevin Ohashi · Jun 29, 2011 · Viewed 117.3k times · Source

I have a select query where I am trying to search strings for multiple patterns

LIKE ('%this%' or '%that%' ) and something=else

Returns zero results

However 

LIKE '%this%' and something=else

returns results and 

LIKE '%that%' and something=else

returns result

Is it possible to get all my results into one query? If a string matches both, how will it handle that?

Answer

Bohemian picture Bohemian · Jun 29, 2011

It would be nice if you could, but you can't use that syntax in SQL.

Try this:

(column1 LIKE '%this%' OR column1 LIKE '%that%') AND something = else

Note the use of brackets! You need them around the OR expression.
Without brackets, it will be parsed as A OR (B AND C),which won't give you the results you expect.

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