Using Like on a Parameter Variable?

Question

Select Column1 From Table Where @Variable Like \'%\' + Column2 + \'%\'

Doesn\'t seem to work how I thought it would. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

(vague question)

Have you got Category and @Variable round the wrong way: sqlFiddle

create table the_table 
(
  category varchar(10),
  [Date] datetime,
  Amount decimal(12, 2)
)

insert into the_table
values
( 'X', '2012-1-1', 10),
( 'X', '2012-1-3', 10),
( 'Y', '2012-1-3', 20),
( 'Y', '2012-1-5', 10)

declare @Variable varchar(10)
set @Variable = 'Y'

Select * 
From the_table 
--Where @Variable Like '%' + category + '%' 
Where category Like '%' + @Variable + '%' 

Answer 2

If you have a limited number of columns, you can use case:

where  case 
       when @Variable = 'col1' then col1 
       when @Variable = 'col2' then col2
       when @Variable = 'col3' then col3 
       ...
       end like '%' + Column2 + '%'

Another option is dynamic SQL:

declare @sql nvarchar(max)
set @sql = 'Select Column1 From Table Where ' + @Variable + 
    ' Like ''%'' + Column2 + ''%'''
exec (@sql)