Search for a string within text column in MySQL?

You can search for a string within text column in MySQL with the help of LIKE clause. The syntax is as follows −

select *from yourTableName where yourColumnName like '%anyStringValue%';

To use the above syntax, let us first create a table −

mysql> create table SearchTextDemo
   −> (
   −> BookName TEXT
   −> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.55 sec)

Insert some strings in the table. The query is as follows −

mysql> insert into SearchTextDemo values('Let us C');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.28 sec)

mysql> insert into SearchTextDemo values('C in Depth');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.14 sec)

mysql> insert into SearchTextDemo values('C in Depth with Data Structure');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec)

mysql> insert into SearchTextDemo values('Introduction to Java');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)

mysql> insert into SearchTextDemo values('Java in Depth');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.13 sec)

Display all records with the help of select statement. The query is as follows −

mysql> select *from SearchTextDemo;

The following is the output −

+--------------------------------+
| BookName                       |
+--------------------------------+
| Let us C                       |
| C in Depth                     |
| C in Depth with Data Structure |
| Introduction to Java           |
| Java in Depth                  |
+--------------------------------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Here is the query to search a specific string within text column −

mysql> select *from SearchTextDemo where BookName like '%in Depth%';

The following is the output −

+--------------------------------+
| BookName                       |
+--------------------------------+
| C in Depth                     |
| C in Depth with Data Structure |
| Java in Depth                  |
+--------------------------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Look at the above sample output, the string ‘in Depth’ has been searched from column name ‘BookName’ with data type TEXT.