Search numeric or string value as wildcard in sql server

Question

We have a requirement to implement search functionality in our webpage. The logic is as follows,

1. If the user enters a numeric value ie staffid then wildcard to applied on the staffid column of staff table .
2. If the user enters a string value ie staffname then wildcard to be applied on the staffname column of staff table .

how to implement the above scenario is sql server?.

Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

As I have mentioned the better way is to have 2 parameters and branch search depending on which is filled or do it one query. But if you insist this is how you can do this:

DECLARE @p VARCHAR(10) = 'jo'
--DECLARE @p VARCHAR(10) = '34'

DECLARE @t TABLE(StuffID INT, Name VARCHAR(100))
INSERT INTO @t VALUES
(1234, 'Michael Jordan'),
(7845, 'Scottie Pippen'),
(6541, 'Dennis Rodman'),
(1987, 'Phil Jackson')

SELECT * FROM @t
WHERE (@p NOT LIKE '%[^0-9]%' AND StuffID LIKE '%' + @p + '%') OR
      (@p NOT LIKE '%[^a-z]%' AND Name LIKE '%' + @p + '%')

This can be read as: if @p doesn't contain symbols other than digits search in StuffID column or if it doesn't contain symbols other than chars search in Name column.