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sqlsparqlsql-likesemantic-web

Selecting strings with LIKE operator in SPARQL

In ANSI SQL, you can write something like:

SELECT * FROM DBTable WHERE Description LIKE 'MEET'

or also:

SELECT * FROM DBTable WHERE Description LIKE '%MEET%'

What I would like help with is writing the SPARQL equivalent of the above please.

Solution

  • Use a regex filter. You can find a short tutorial here

    Here's what it looks like:

    PREFIX ns: <http://example.com/namespace>

SELECT ?x
WHERE
{ ?x ns:SomePredicate ?y .
  FILTER regex(?y, "YOUR_REGEX", "i") }

    YOUR_REGEX must be an expression of the XQuery regular expression language

    i is an optional flag. It means that the match is case insensitive.