What does the % in the SQL query signify and how does it affect the search results?

The % in an SQL query is a wildcard character that represents zero or more characters. It is commonly used in conjunction with the LIKE operator to search for patterns in a database. For example, using '%keyword%' would search for any records containing the keyword anywhere in the specified column.

// Example SQL query using the % wildcard
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE '%keyword%'";