What is the significance of using the LIKE operator in PHP MySQL queries?

The LIKE operator in PHP MySQL queries is used to search for a specified pattern in a column. It is useful for performing partial matches on strings, allowing for more flexible and powerful searches. This operator is particularly helpful when you want to find records that contain a certain string or pattern within a larger text field. 

// Example of using the LIKE operator in a PHP MySQL query
$search_term = 'example';
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE '%$search_term%'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Fetch and display the results
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo $row['column_name'] . "<br>";
}

Keywords

LIKE operator PHP MySQL queries string matching wildcard characters

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