Is there a combination of "LIKE" and "IN" in SQL?

In SQL, there isn’t a direct operator that combines LIKE and IN together, but you can achieve the same functionality by using them in creative ways. Essentially, the idea is to filter rows where a column matches any of several patterns.

Here are some common approaches:

Multiple LIKE conditions with OR:

 You can chain multiple LIKE statements together.

 SELECT * 

FROM Employees

WHERE Name LIKE 'John%'

   OR Name LIKE 'Mike%'

   OR Name LIKE 'Sara%';

 This works, but can get lengthy with many conditions.

Using IN with wildcards (not directly supported):

 Unfortunately, IN does not work with wildcards. For example:

   WHERE Name IN ('%John%', '%Mike%')  -- ❌ Invalid

 This won’t behave like LIKE.

Alternative using regular expressions (if supported):

 Some databases (like MySQL with REGEXP or PostgreSQL with SIMILAR TO) allow you to use a single condition to match multiple patterns.

 SELECT * 

FROM Employees

WHERE Name REGEXP '^(John|Mike|Sara)';

Dynamic SQL for flexibility:

•  In more complex cases, you can build dynamic SQL queries where multiple patterns are constructed programmatically.
  
•  Best Practice: Use multiple LIKE conditions with OR when working in standard SQL. If your database supports regex (REGEXP or SIMILAR TO), it’s a cleaner and more efficient approach for multiple patterns.
  
• In short, while there isn’t a built-in LIKE IN syntax, you can achieve the same outcome with either multiple LIKE clauses or database-specific regex solutions.