Question

I want to filter my columns with a like in select clause, the default like in MySQL is case-insensitive, but I want it to be case-sensitive. How to do it?

I want this query:

select * from my_table where column1 like '%abc%'

and this query:

select * from my_table where column1 like '%Abc%'

to give different results.

Answer 1

The default character set and collation are latin1 and latin1_swedish_ci, so nonbinary string comparisons are case insensitive by default. This means that if you search with col_name LIKE 'a%', you get all column values that start with A or a. To make this search case sensitive, make sure that one of the operands has a case sensitive or binary collation. For example, if you are comparing a column and a string that both have the latin1 character set, you can use the COLLATE operator to cause either operand to have the latin1_general_cs or latin1_bin collation:

col_name COLLATE latin1_general_cs LIKE 'a%'
col_name LIKE 'a%' COLLATE latin1_general_cs
col_name COLLATE latin1_bin LIKE 'a%'
col_name LIKE 'a%' COLLATE latin1_bin

MySQL :: MySQL 5.6 Reference Manual :: C.5.5.1 Case Sensitivity in String Searches (emphasis added)