In what scenarios would using the LIKE operator in a MySQL query for IP addresses be appropriate in PHP development?

When dealing with IP addresses in MySQL queries in PHP development, using the LIKE operator can be appropriate when you want to search for a specific range of IP addresses, such as all IP addresses starting with a certain prefix. This can be useful for filtering or querying data based on IP address patterns.

$ip_prefix = '192.168.1.';
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE ip_address LIKE '$ip_prefix%'";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);

// Fetch and process the results