[dave111]

Does anyone know how to use the mysql LIKE function with a column name.

What i'm trying to do is something like this:

Code:

SELECT * FROM `tablename` WHERE `columna` LIKE '%`columnb`%'

But this doesn't seem to work, any ideas?

[tkangel]

You can use the following:

Code:

show columns from 'tablename'
where field like '%columnb%';

[dave111]

Originally Posted by tkangel

You can use the following:

Code:

show columns from 'tablename'
where field like '%columnb%';

That is not the same thing at all.
Your query would display columns which have a name like "columnb"

I want to display rows where the data in "columna" is like the data in "columnb".

[sandeep.kumar]

may be this code will work

Code:

SELECT * FROM tablename as t1, tablename as t2  WHERE  t1.columna =  t2.columnb;

[dave111]

Originally Posted by sandeep.kumar

may be this code will work

Code:

SELECT * FROM tablename as t1, tablename as t2  WHERE  t1.columna =  t2.columnb;

This is incorrect:
1) - "columna" and "columnb" need to be in the same table (not 2 different tables)

2) - I'm asking about LIKE not EQUAL

Does no one know the answer to this?

[sandeep.kumar]

In my query m using same table.

Tablename = 'your_table'

Code:

SELECT * FROM your_table as t1, your_table as t2  WHERE  t1.columna =  t2.columnb;

I'm just using SELF JOIN.

[dave111]

Originally Posted by sandeep.kumar

In my query m using same table.

Tablename = 'your_table'

Code:

SELECT * FROM your_table as t1, your_table as t2  WHERE  t1.columna =  t2.columnb;

I'm just using SELF JOIN.

Ah, i see; it still does not work with the LIKE function though:

Code:

SELECT * FROM your_table as t1, your_table as t2  WHERE  t1.columna LIKE   '%t2.columnb%';

[dustin56]

I found someone through Google with a similar issue. Here is an adaptation of the code that they used successfully.

Code:

SELECT * FROM tablename WHERE columna LIKE concat('%', columnb, '%')

Apparently you have to concatenate the wildcards into the string before LIKE can use them in a comparison. This makes perfect sense when you consider that LIKE expects to compare literal strings. Definitely not trivial though. I had to dig around a bit to find this solution.