How can the use of LIKE in SQL queries impact the results of if statements in PHP code?

When using the LIKE operator in SQL queries, it is important to handle the wildcard characters (%) properly to avoid unexpected results. If the LIKE pattern includes the wildcard characters, it can impact the results of if statements in PHP code as the comparison may not work as expected. To solve this issue, you can escape the wildcard characters in the SQL query using the ESCAPE clause and then use the same escape character in the PHP code when comparing the results. 

// SQL query with escaped wildcard characters
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE 'search_term%' ESCAPE '\\'";

// Execute the query and fetch results

// PHP code to compare the results
$search_term = "search_term%";
foreach ($results as $row) {
    if (strpos($row['column_name'], $search_term) !== false) {
        // Handle the matching results
    }
}

Keywords

LIKE SQL queries if statements PHP code results.

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