Equals(=) vs. LIKE

Question

When using SQL, are there any benefits of using = in a WHERE clause instead of LIKE?

Without any special operators, LIKE

Answer 1

For this example we take it for granted that varcharcol doesn't contain '' and have no empty cell against this column

select * from some_table where varcharCol = ''
select * from some_table where varcharCol like ''

The first one results in 0 row output while the second one shows the whole list. = is strictly-match case while like acts like a filter. if filter has no criteria, every data is valid.

like - by the virtue of its purpose works a little slower and is intended for use with varchar and similar data.