How do I create a wildcard search in my database program?

I'm building a SQL database program to search for names or numbers. I know how to get the exact name or number. But I would like to use a wildcard to show everything starting with "the first few letters" or "the first few numbers." I'm using OleDBDataAdapter to access my database. (VB.NET)
Use SQL "LIKE" keyword together with the "%" wildcard. For example: SELECT * FROM authors WHERE fname LIKE 'J%' (will give you John and Jason) SELECT * FROM authors WHERE telephone LIKE '54%' (will give you all lucky authors living in Argentina -- such as myself!)

This was first published in June 2003

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