comparison - Use '=' or LIKE to compare strings in SQL?

Question

There's the (almost religious) discussion, if you should use LIKE or '=' to compare strings in SQL statements.

• Are there reasons to use LIKE?
• Are there reasons to use '='?
• Performance? Readability?

Answer 1

LIKE and the equality operator have different purposes, they don't do the same thing:
= is much faster, whereas LIKE can interpret wildcards. Use = wherever you can and LIKE wherever you must.

SELECT * FROM user WHERE login LIKE 'Test%';

Sample matches:

TestUser1
TestUser2
TestU
Test