NSPredicate that is the equivalent of SQL's LIKE

Question

I'm looking for a way to use NSPredicate to set a LIKE condition to fetch objects. In addition to that, an OR would be useful as well. I'm trying to do something where if a user searches "James" I can write an NSPredicate that will do the equivalent of:

select * from users where firstname LIKE '%James%' OR lastname LIKE '%James%';

Answer 1

NSString *_mySearchKey = @"James";
NSPredicate *_myPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"(firstname CONTAINS[cd] %@) OR (lastname CONTAINS[cd] %@)", _mySearchKey, _mySearchKey];

Answer 2

The CONTAINS operator will certainly work just fine. If you're looking for a more direct correlation, then you can also use the LIKE operator (* = 0 or more characters, ? = 1 character):

NSString *_mySearchKey = @"James";
NSPredicate *_myPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"firstname LIKE '*%1$@*' OR lastname LIKE '*%1$@*'", _mySearchKey];

For reference: http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/cocoa/Conceptual/Predicates/Articles/pSyntax.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001795-215868