Equals(=) vs. LIKE

Question

When using SQL, are there any benefits of using = in a WHERE clause instead of LIKE?

Without any special operators, LIKE

Answer 1

The LIKE keyword undoubtedly comes with a "performance price-tag" attached. That said, if you have an input field that could potentially include wild card characters to be used in your query, I would recommend using LIKE only if the input contains one of the wild cards. Otherwise, use the standard equal to comparison.

Best regards...