Like the DB2 LIKE

The LIKE phrase defines a mask for comparing characters:
   WHERE COL_VAL [NOT] LIKE mask

 

A mask may be a host variable or a literal enclosed in quotes and may contain any number of:

character literal		for an exact match
underscore character	_	for any single character
percent sign character	%	for any sequence of characters of length 0 or more

For example:

		'NEW %'	masks	'NEW YORK' but not 'NEWARK'
		'T_N'	masks	'TAN', 'TIN', or 'TON', but not 'TUNE'
		'T_N%'	masks	'TUNE'
		'%CA%'	masks	'CAT', 'GO CART', 'MOCA', etc.
		'%CA% '	masks	'CAT ' but not 'CAT'

To use a host variable for a mask to produce the same effect as the literal mask in the second-to-last example, code it right-padded with “%” characters to avoid the effect of the last example.

    05  WS-MASK           PIC  X(6)  VALUE '%CA%%%'.

 

The IN phrase chooses from a given set:
   WHERE COL_VAL [NOT] IN (:HOST-VAR, 'LITERAL', COL1 + COL2, ...)
 

Multiple list items that contain the same value are considered as a single item.

The BETWEEN phrase chooses from a range of inclusive limits:

   WHERE COL_VAL [NOT] BETWEEN [:HOST-VAR1, 'LIT1']

                           AND [:HOST-VAR2, 'LIT2']