Question

Is it possible in SQL to do grouping by LIKE patterns? I would like to achieve something like this:

id|name  
1 | Mike  
2 | Bob  
3 | Bill  
4 | Alice

and then doing query like: SELECT name from users group by _pattern_
For example I would like to get groups by matching patterns ‘B*’, ‘*l*’ and ‘Mike’
would give the output:

B*  | Bob
    | Bill
*l* | Bill
    | Alice
Mike| Mike

Answer 1

Select 'B*' as Mask, Name
from Table
WHERE Name like 'B%'
UNION ALL
Select '*l*' as Mask, Name
from Table
WHERE Name like '%l%'
UNION ALL
Select 'Mike' as Mask, Name
from Table
WHERE Name like 'Mike'