How can we use MySQL INSTR() function with WHERE clause?

When we use INSTR() function with MySQL WHERE clause, we need to provide column name of the table as the first argument and the substring as second argument along with a comparison operator. Following is an example using ‘Student’ table to demonstrate it:

Example

Suppose we have the following values in ‘Student’ table:

mysql> Select * from Student;
+------+---------+---------+-----------+
| Id   | Name    | Address | Subject   |
+------+---------+---------+-----------+
| 1    | Gaurav  | Delhi   | Computers |
| 2    | Aarav   | Mumbai  | History   |
| 15   | Harshit | Delhi   | Commerce  |
| 20   | Gaurav  | Jaipur  | Computers |
| 21   | Yashraj | NULL    | Math      |
+------+---------+---------+-----------+

5 rows in set (0.02 sec)

Now, following query show how we can use INSTR() function with WHERE caluse:

mysql> select name, INSTR(Name,'av')As Result from student where INSTR(Name,'av') > 0;

+--------+--------+
| name   | Result |
+--------+--------+
| Gaurav |      5 |
| Aarav  |      4 |
| Gaurav |      5 |
+--------+--------+

3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> select name, INSTR(Name,'av')As Result from student where INSTR(Name,'av') = 0 ;

+---------+--------+
| name    | Result |
+---------+--------+
| Harshit |      0 |
| Yashraj |      0 |
+---------+--------+

2 rows in set (0.01 sec)