Oracle PL/SQL REGEXP_LIKE / REGEXP_INSTR

Question

I require a means of checking to see if a string has the following exact pattern within it, ie:

(P)

Examples where this would be true is:

Test System (P)

I am not sure though how to check for cases when the string that doesn't have '(P)', ie:

'Test System (GUI for Prof)' - in this case, this would be false but I am using REGEXP_LIKE and it actually returns TRUE.

I only want it to return True when the exact string of '(P)' exists within the search string.

How can I do this in PL/SQL?

Answer 1

Use:

REGEX_LIKE(t.column, '\(P\)')

Regular INSTR would work (Oracle 8i+):

WHERE INSTR(t.column, '(P)') > 0 --column contains '(P)'

WHERE INSTR(t.column, '(P)') = 0 --column does NOT contain '(P)'

LIKE works too:

WHERE t.column LIKE '%(P)%' --column contains '(P)'

WHERE t.column NOT LIKE '%(P)%' --column does NOT contain '(P)'

Answer 2

尝试like ：

WHERE thing like '%(P)%';

Answer 3

I would stick with REGEXP_* functions, as you'll need to practice them anyway, and knowing regular expressions will serve you well.

They're all good answers, except for a typo in Ponies' first answer. :

The typo is that there's a P missing from REGEX_LIKE:

Written: REGEX_LIKE(t.column, '\\(P\\)')

Correct: REGEXP_LIKE(T.COLUMN, '\\(P\\)')

The '\\' is an escape character that says "don't look for the symbolic meaning of the next character, but look for the literal character itself."