sql server - How to escape square brackets in a LIKE clause?

Sql server - How to escape square brackets in a LIKE clause?

In SQL Server, square brackets ([ ]) are used for escaping special characters in a pattern within a LIKE clause. To match a literal square bracket using LIKE, you need to escape it with another square bracket. Here's how you can do it:

SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%[[]%'; 

In this example:

  • % is a wildcard that matches any sequence of characters.
  • [] is a character range. Since we want to match a literal [, we escape it by enclosing it within another pair of square brackets [[].
  • The % after [[] means that we're looking for any sequence of characters after the literal [.

This query will return rows where MyColumn contains a square bracket ([).

So, to escape square brackets in a LIKE clause, you simply use [[ to represent a literal [, and []] to represent a literal ].

Examples

  1. How to escape square brackets in SQL Server LIKE clause?

    Description: Use square brackets with a backslash to escape them in a LIKE clause.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%\[value\]%'; 
  2. How to find literal square brackets using LIKE in SQL Server?

    Description: Use ESCAPE keyword to define an escape character for square brackets.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%![value!]%' ESCAPE '!'; 
  3. Using CHAR function to escape square brackets in SQL Server LIKE clause

    Description: Use CHAR function to represent square brackets in a LIKE clause.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%' + CHAR(91) + 'value' + CHAR(93) + '%'; 
  4. How to use wildcard characters and escape square brackets in SQL Server LIKE clause?

    Description: Combine wildcards and escape square brackets using ESCAPE keyword.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%![%value!%]%' ESCAPE '!'; 
  5. How to escape multiple square brackets in SQL Server LIKE clause?

    Description: Escape multiple square brackets using a custom escape character.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%!\[value!\]%' ESCAPE '!'; 
  6. Using REPLACE to handle square brackets in SQL Server LIKE clause

    Description: Replace square brackets with another character sequence before using LIKE.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE REPLACE(MyColumn, '[', '{') LIKE '%{value]%'; 
  7. Escape square brackets in SQL Server when using dynamic SQL

    Description: Escape square brackets when building dynamic SQL statements.

    Code:

    DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) SET @sql = 'SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE ''%![value!]%'' ESCAPE ''!''' EXEC sp_executesql @sql; 
  8. How to handle square brackets in SQL Server with pattern matching

    Description: Use pattern matching techniques to handle square brackets in LIKE clause.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%\[value\]%' ESCAPE '\'; 
  9. Using double escape sequences for square brackets in SQL Server LIKE clause

    Description: Use double escape sequences to match square brackets in LIKE clause.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%\\[value\\]%'; 
  10. How to escape special characters including square brackets in SQL Server LIKE clause?

    Description: Handle special characters including square brackets by using ESCAPE.

    Code:

    SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE MyColumn LIKE '%!\[%value!%]%' ESCAPE '!'; 

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