How can I tell if a VARCHAR variable contains a substring?

sql string contains sql-server-2012

The standard SQL way is to use like:

where @stringVar like '%thisstring%'

That is in a query statement. You can also do this in TSQL:

if @stringVar like '%thisstring%'

sql string contains sql-server-2012

Instead of LIKE (which does work as other commenters have suggested), you can alternatively use CHARINDEX:

declare @full varchar(100) = 'abcdefg'declare @find varchar(100) = 'cde'if (charindex(@find, @full) > 0)    print 'exists'

sql string contains sql-server-2012

CONTAINS is for a Full Text Indexed field - if not, then use LIKE

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