THE WORLD'S LARGEST WEB DEVELOPER SITE

SQL Tutorial

SQL HOME SQL Intro SQL Syntax SQL Select SQL Select Distinct SQL Where SQL And, Or, Not SQL Order By SQL Insert Into SQL Null Values SQL Update SQL Delete SQL Select Top SQL Min and Max SQL Count, Avg, Sum SQL Like SQL Wildcards SQL In SQL Between SQL Aliases SQL Joins SQL Inner Join SQL Left Join SQL Right Join SQL Full Join SQL Self Join SQL Union SQL Group By SQL Having SQL Exists SQL Any, All SQL Select Into SQL Insert Into Select SQL Case SQL Null Functions SQL Stored Procedures SQL Comments

SQL Database

SQL Create DB SQL Drop DB SQL Backup DB SQL Create Table SQL Drop Table SQL Alter Table SQL Constraints SQL Not Null SQL Unique SQL Primary Key SQL Foreign Key SQL Check SQL Default SQL Index SQL Auto Increment SQL Dates SQL Views SQL Injection SQL Hosting

SQL References

SQL Keywords MySQL Functions SQL Server Functions MS Access Functions SQL Operators SQL Data Types SQL Quick Ref

SQL Examples

SQL Examples SQL Quiz SQL Exercises SQL Certificate

SQL Server PATINDEX() Function

❮ SQL Server Functions

Example

Return the position of a pattern in a string:

SELECT PATINDEX('%schools%', 'W3Schools.com');
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The PATINDEX() function returns the position of a pattern in a string.

If the pattern is not found, this function returns 0.

Note: The search is case-insensitive and the first position in string is 1.

Syntax

PATINDEX(%pattern%, string)

Parameter Values

Parameter Description
%pattern% Required. The pattern to find. It MUST be surrounded by %. Other wildcards can be used in pattern, such as:
  • % - Match any string of any length (including 0 length)
  • _ - Match one single character
  • [] - Match any characters in the brackets, e.g. [xyz]
  • [^] - Match any character not in the brackets, e.g. [^xyz]
string Required. The string to be searched

Technical Details

Works in: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

More Examples

Example

Return the position of a pattern in a string:

SELECT PATINDEX('%s%com%', 'W3Schools.com');
Try it Yourself »

Example

Return the position of a pattern in a string:

SELECT PATINDEX('%[ol]%', 'W3Schools.com');
Try it Yourself »

Example

Return the position of a pattern in a string:

SELECT PATINDEX('%[z]%', 'W3Schools.com');
Try it Yourself »

❮ SQL Server Functions