IN and LIKE Operators

The LIKE operator allows you to search within the values of the attributes of a part, and uses wild cards, which are used to query similar values, but the IN operator returns precise record sets based on specific values and is a shortcut for multiple OR conditions.

IN Operator

The IN operator needs a series of values separated by a comma, for example - Value1, Value2, Value3. Internally, WA will convert that to Value1 OR Value2 OR Value3. Thus the IN operator saves you the effort of creating multiple queries and combining them using OR operators.

The NOT IN operator will be converted to NOT (Value1 OR Value2 OR Value3).

LIKE Operator

TThe LIKE operator is a powerful operator because it supports multiple ways in which the attributes can be searched. The following table shows the various ways the search string can be specified using the LIKE operator.

Table 1. Search Options in the LIKE Operator
Value	Description
`AAA`	When the search string is used as is, the system will show the results where the search string `AAA` exists in the field value in any position.
`*AAA` or `%AAA`	When the search string is prefixed with a * (or %), the system will show the results where the field value ends with `AAA`.
`AAA*` or `AAA%`	When the search string is suffixed with a * (or %), the system will show the results where the field value begins with `AAA`.
`A*B` or `A%B`	When the search string is specified with a * (or %) in between the search characters, the system will show the results where the field value begins with `A` and ends with `B`.
`_AAA`	When the search string is prefixed with a _, the system will show the results where the field value begins with exactly one character before the string `AAA`. The number of _s's will decide how many characters before the search string are acceptable.
`AAA_`	When the search string is suffixed with a _, the system will show the results where the field value ends with exactly one character after the string `AAA`. The number of _s's will decide how many characters after the search string are acceptable.
`A_B`	When the search string is specified with a _ in between the search characters, the system will show the results where the field value begins with `A` and ends with `B` with only one character in between `A` and `B`. The number of _s's will decide how many characters in between the search strings are acceptable.
`____`	When the search string is specified with just _s, then the field values which contain only the number of specified _s will be returned. The characters can be anything but should only match the number of _s's.

For example:

Table 2. Combination Query
Attribute	Operator	Values	Logical Operator
Description	`LIKE`	`CABIN*`

The NOT LIKE operator is similar to the LIKE operator, but negates and extracts the reversed results. This search query will, therefore, return all parts that have a description beginning with CABIN.