SQL Using Like, One Variable, Multiple Columns - sql

Question

--where 'email#aol.com' in(o.SuOrderEmailAddress, o.SuBusEmailAddress, o.SuReturnEmail, O.SuPartsEmail) and es.ictid = 7
I want to search one variable (email address) in the multiple columns. This is what I have now, and it works.
I think I need to use Like, because I want to use wildcards. For instance, being able to use *#aol.com would be very helpful. Right now I have to enter an exact email address.
--Where s.suname like 'rizt%'and es.ictid = 7
It was simple enough in this above example, but once I rearrange the syntax to do multiple columns Im lost as to where I can use LIKE so that I can use Wildcards.
Thanks

Answer 1

You could just look at the end of the email address. Most databases support the right() function:
where '#aol.com' in (right(o.SuOrderEmailAddress, 8),
right(o.SuBusEmailAddress, 8),
right(o.SuReturnEmail, 8),
right(o.SuPartsEmail, 8)
) and
es.ictid = 7
(Even databases that don't have right() have an equivalent function, in general.)
Some databases support regular expressions, which is another option. Or, in your case, string concatenation would even work.
EDIT:
If you have a variable, you can do:
where #var in (right(o.SuOrderEmailAddress, len(#var)),
right(o.SuBusEmailAddress, len(#var)),
right(o.SuReturnEmail, len(#var)),
right(o.SuPartsEmail, len(#var))
) and
es.ictid = 7

Answer 2

This is the general idea. Usually, #search would be a parameter to a stored proc. Look at the WHERE clause first.
declare #search varchar(50) = '#aol.com'
set #search = '%' + #search + '%'
select case when o.SuOrderEmailAddress like #search then o.SuOrderEmailAddress
when o.SuBusEmailAddress like #search then o.SuBusEmailAddress
when o.SuReturnEmail like #search then o.SuReturnEmail
when o.SuPartsEmail like #search end as matchedEmail
from MyTable as o
where (o.SuOrderEmailAddress like #search
or o.SuBusEmailAddress like #search
or o.SuReturnEmail like #search
or o.SuPartsEmail like #search) and ...
You could control the adding of '%'s on the front end. This seems to me to be written clearly for the reader and gives you back the email address that was the match.

Answer 3

I think that the real answer is to use Full Text Indexing (if you are using MS SQL - otherwise seeing if there is an equivalent for whatever server you are using). However, here is an ugly hack that should work:
WHERE ISNULL(o.SuOrderEmailAddress, '') + '|'
+ ISNULL(o.SuBusEmailAddress, '') + '|'
+ ISNULL(o.SuReturnEmail, '') + '|'
+ ISNULL(O.SuPartsEmail, '') LIKE #pattern
This simply concatenates all of the relevant fields into a pipe-delimited list before checking that concatenated string for the #pattern.