grepl for dplyr sql table?

Question

is there a workaround to use something like

filter(df, grepl(\"A|B|C\",location))

for a dplyr SQL table? In SQL it is probalby a LIKE

Answer 1

Using sql to translate the expression directly into sql is one option.

sql_table %>% filter( sql("location LIKE 'A%' 
                           OR location LIKE 'B%' 
                           OR location LIKE 'C%'")

Which will inject the following into the WHERE statement of your query:

<SQL> location LIKE 'A%' OR location LIKE 'B%' OR location LIKE 'C%'