Check if string doesn't contain another string

In T-SQL, how would you check if a string doesn't contain another string?

I have an nvarchar which could be "Oranges Apples".

I would like to do an update where, for instance, a columm doesn't contain "Apples".

How can this be done?

Solution 1:

WHERE NOT (someColumn LIKE '%Apples%')

Solution 2:

Or alternatively, you could use this:

WHERE CHARINDEX(N'Apples', someColumn) = 0

Not sure which one performs better - you gotta test it! :-)

Marc

UPDATE: the performance seems to be pretty much on a par with the other solution (WHERE someColumn NOT LIKE '%Apples%') - so it's really just a question of your personal preference.

Solution 3:

Use this as your WHERE condition

WHERE CHARINDEX('Apples', column) = 0 

Solution 4:

The answers you got assumed static text to compare against. If you want to compare against another column (say, you're joining two tables, and want to find ones where a column from one table is part of a column from another table), you can do this

WHERE NOT (someColumn LIKE '%' || someOtherColumn || '%')