Strings that contain a particular substring at any position:
mysql> mysql> CREATE TABLE mytable -> ( -> name VARCHAR(20) -> ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec) mysql> INSERT INTO mytable (name) -> VALUES -> ('copper'), -> ('gold'), -> ('iron'), -> ('lead'), -> ('mercury'), -> ('platinum'), -> ('silver'), -> ('tin') -> ; Query OK, 8 rows affected (0.00 sec) Records: 8 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0 mysql> mysql> SELECT * FROM mytable; +----------+ | name | +----------+ | copper | | gold | | iron | | lead | | mercury | | platinum | | silver | | tin | +----------+ 8 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> mysql> mysql> SELECT name FROM mytable WHERE name REGEXP 'er'; +---------+ | name | +---------+ | copper | | mercury | | silver | +---------+ 3 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> mysql> drop table mytable; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)