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i need to combine like and in query ..for e.g some thing like select * from table where first_name in ('%abc%','%def%') [duplicate]

In SQL I (sadly) often have to use "LIKE" conditions due to databases that violate nearly every rule of normalization. I can't change that right now. But that's irrelevant to the question.
Further, I often use conditions like WHERE something in (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21) for better readability and flexibility of my SQL statements.
Is there any possible way to combine these two things without writing complicated sub-selects?
I want something as easy as WHERE something LIKE ('bla%', '%foo%', 'batz%') instead of this:
WHERE something LIKE 'bla%'
OR something LIKE '%foo%'
OR something LIKE 'batz%'
I'm working with SQl Server and Oracle here but I'm interested if this is possible in any RDBMS at all.

There is no combination of LIKE & IN in SQL, much less in TSQL (SQL Server) or PLSQL (Oracle). Part of the reason for that is because Full Text Search (FTS) is the recommended alternative.
Both Oracle and SQL Server FTS implementations support the CONTAINS keyword, but the syntax is still slightly different:
Oracle:
WHERE CONTAINS(t.something, 'bla OR foo OR batz', 1) > 0
SQL Server:
WHERE CONTAINS(t.something, '"bla*" OR "foo*" OR "batz*"')
The column you are querying must be full-text indexed.
Reference:
Building Full-Text Search Applications with Oracle Text
Understanding SQL Server Full-Text

If you want to make your statement easily readable, then you can use REGEXP_LIKE (available from Oracle version 10 onwards).
An example table:
SQL> create table mytable (something)
2 as
3 select 'blabla' from dual union all
4 select 'notbla' from dual union all
5 select 'ofooof' from dual union all
6 select 'ofofof' from dual union all
7 select 'batzzz' from dual
8 /
Table created.
The original syntax:
SQL> select something
2 from mytable
3 where something like 'bla%'
4 or something like '%foo%'
5 or something like 'batz%'
6 /
SOMETH
------
blabla
ofooof
batzzz
3 rows selected.
And a simple looking query with REGEXP_LIKE
SQL> select something
2 from mytable
3 where regexp_like (something,'^bla|foo|^batz')
4 /
SOMETH
------
blabla
ofooof
batzzz
3 rows selected.
BUT ...
I would not recommend it myself due to the not-so-good performance. I'd stick with the several LIKE predicates. So the examples were just for fun.

you're stuck with the
WHERE something LIKE 'bla%'
OR something LIKE '%foo%'
OR something LIKE 'batz%'
unless you populate a temp table (include the wild cards in with the data) and join like this:
FROM YourTable y
INNER JOIN YourTempTable t On y.something LIKE t.something
try it out (using SQL Server syntax):
declare #x table (x varchar(10))
declare #y table (y varchar(10))
insert #x values ('abcdefg')
insert #x values ('abc')
insert #x values ('mnop')
insert #y values ('%abc%')
insert #y values ('%b%')
select distinct *
FROM #x x
WHERE x.x LIKE '%abc%'
or x.x LIKE '%b%'
select distinct x.*
FROM #x x
INNER JOIN #y y On x.x LIKE y.y
OUTPUT:
x
----------
abcdefg
abc
(2 row(s) affected)
x
----------
abc
abcdefg
(2 row(s) affected)

With PostgreSQL there is the ANY or ALL form:
WHERE col LIKE ANY( subselect )
or
WHERE col LIKE ALL( subselect )
where the subselect returns exactly one column of data.

Another solution, should work on any RDBMS:
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM (SELECT 'bla%' pattern FROM dual UNION ALL
SELECT '%foo%' FROM dual UNION ALL
SELECT 'batz%' FROM dual)
WHERE something LIKE pattern)
The inner select can be replaced by another source of patterns like a table (or a view) in this way:
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM table_of_patterns t
WHERE something LIKE t.pattern)
table_of_patterns should contain at least a column pattern, and can be populated like this:
INSERT INTO table_of_patterns(pattern) VALUES ('bla%');
INSERT INTO table_of_patterns(pattern) VALUES ('%foo%');
INSERT INTO table_of_patterns(pattern) VALUES ('batz%');

I would suggest using a TableValue user function if you'd like to encapsulate the Inner Join or temp table techniques shown above. This would allow it to read a bit more clearly.
After using the split function defined at: http://www.logiclabz.com/sql-server/split-function-in-sql-server-to-break-comma-separated-strings-into-table.aspx
we can write the following based on a table I created called "Fish" (int id, varchar(50) Name)
SELECT Fish.* from Fish
JOIN dbo.Split('%ass,%e%',',') as Splits
on Name like Splits.items //items is the name of the output column from the split function.
Outputs
1 Bass
2 Pike
7 Angler
8 Walleye

I'm working with SQl Server and Oracle here but I'm interested if this is possible in any RDBMS at all.
Teradata supports LIKE ALL/ANY syntax:
ALL every string in the list.
ANY any string in the list.
┌──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THIS expression … │ IS equivalent to this expression … │
├──────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│ x LIKE ALL ('A%','%B','%C%') │ x LIKE 'A%' │
│ │ AND x LIKE '%B' │
│ │ AND x LIKE '%C%' │
│ │ │
│ x LIKE ANY ('A%','%B','%C%') │ x LIKE 'A%' │
│ │ OR x LIKE '%B' │
│ │ OR x LIKE '%C%' │
└──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘
EDIT:
jOOQ version 3.12.0 supports that syntax:
Add synthetic [NOT] LIKE ANY and [NOT] LIKE ALL operators
A lot of times, SQL users would like to be able to combine LIKE and IN predicates, as in:
SELECT *
FROM customer
WHERE last_name [ NOT ] LIKE ANY ('A%', 'E%') [ ESCAPE '!' ]
The workaround is to manually expand the predicate to the equivalent
SELECT *
FROM customer
WHERE last_name LIKE 'A%'
OR last_name LIKE 'E%'
jOOQ could support such a synthetic predicate out of the box.
PostgreSQL LIKE/ILIKE ANY (ARRAY[]):
SELECT *
FROM t
WHERE c LIKE ANY (ARRAY['A%', '%B']);
SELECT *
FROM t
WHERE c LIKE ANY ('{"Do%", "%at"}');
db<>fiddle demo
Snowflake also supports LIKE ANY/LIKE ALL matching:
LIKE ANY/ALL
Allows case-sensitive matching of strings based on comparison with one or more patterns.
<subject> LIKE ANY (<pattern1> [, <pattern2> ... ] ) [ ESCAPE <escape_char> ]
Example:
SELECT *
FROM like_example
WHERE subject LIKE ANY ('%Jo%oe%','T%e')
-- WHERE subject LIKE ALL ('%Jo%oe%','J%e')

Use an inner join instead:
SELECT ...
FROM SomeTable
JOIN
(SELECT 'bla%' AS Pattern
UNION ALL SELECT '%foo%'
UNION ALL SELECT 'batz%'
UNION ALL SELECT 'abc'
) AS Patterns
ON SomeTable.SomeColumn LIKE Patterns.Pattern

One approach would be to store the conditions in a temp table (or table variable in SQL Server) and join to that like this:
SELECT t.SomeField
FROM YourTable t
JOIN #TempTableWithConditions c ON t.something LIKE c.ConditionValue

I have a simple solution, that works in postgresql at least, using like any followed by the list of regex. Here is an example, looking at identifying some antibiotics in a list:
select *
from database.table
where lower(drug_name) like any ('{%cillin%,%cyclin%,%xacin%,%mycine%,%cephal%}')

u can even try this
Function
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fn_Split](#text varchar(8000), #delimiter varchar(20))
RETURNS #Strings TABLE
(
position int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
value varchar(8000)
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #index int
SET #index = -1
WHILE (LEN(#text) > 0)
BEGIN
SET #index = CHARINDEX(#delimiter , #text)
IF (#index = 0) AND (LEN(#text) > 0)
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #Strings VALUES (#text)
BREAK
END
IF (#index > 1)
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #Strings VALUES (LEFT(#text, #index - 1))
SET #text = RIGHT(#text, (LEN(#text) - #index))
END
ELSE
SET #text = RIGHT(#text, (LEN(#text) - #index))
END
RETURN
END
Query
select * from my_table inner join (select value from fn_split('ABC,MOP',','))
as split_table on my_table.column_name like '%'+split_table.value+'%';

Starting with 2016, SQL Server includes a STRING_SPLIT function. I'm using SQL Server v17.4 and I got this to work for me:
DECLARE #dashboard nvarchar(50)
SET #dashboard = 'P1%,P7%'
SELECT * from Project p
JOIN STRING_SPLIT(#dashboard, ',') AS sp ON p.ProjectNumber LIKE sp.value

May be you think the combination like this:
SELECT *
FROM table t INNER JOIN
(
SELECT * FROM (VALUES('bla'),('foo'),('batz')) AS list(col)
) l ON t.column LIKE '%'+l.Col+'%'
If you have defined full text index for your target table then you may use this alternative:
SELECT *
FROM table t
WHERE CONTAINS(t.column, '"bla*" OR "foo*" OR "batz*"')

I was also wondering for something like that. I just tested using a combination of SUBSTRING and IN and it is an effective solution for this kind of problem. Try the below query :
Select * from TB_YOUR T1 Where SUBSTRING(T1.Something, 1,3) IN ('bla', 'foo', 'batz')

In Oracle you can use a collection in the following way:
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM TABLE(ku$_vcnt('bla%', '%foo%', 'batz%'))
WHERE something LIKE column_value)
Here I have used a predefined collection type ku$_vcnt, but you can declare your own one like this:
CREATE TYPE my_collection AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(4000);

I may have a solution for this, although it will only work in SQL Server 2008 as far as I know. I discovered that you can use the row-constructor described in https://stackoverflow.com/a/7285095/894974 to join a 'fictional' table using a like clause.
It sounds more complex then it is, look:
SELECT [name]
,[userID]
,[name]
,[town]
,[email]
FROM usr
join (values ('hotmail'),('gmail'),('live')) as myTable(myColumn) on email like '%'+myTable.myColumn+'%'
This will result in all users with an e-mail adres like the ones provided in the list.
Hope it's of use to anyone. The problem had been bothering me a while.

For Sql Server you can resort to Dynamic SQL.
Most of the time in such situations you have the parameter of IN clause based on some data from database.
The example below is a little "forced", but this can match various real cases found in legacy databases.
Suppose you have table Persons where person names are stored in a single field PersonName as FirstName + ' ' + LastName.
You need to select all persons from a list of first names, stored in field NameToSelect in table NamesToSelect, plus some additional criteria (like filtered on gender, birth date, etc)
You can do it as follows
-- #gender is nchar(1), #birthDate is date
declare
#sql nvarchar(MAX),
#subWhere nvarchar(MAX)
#params nvarchar(MAX)
-- prepare the where sub-clause to cover LIKE IN (...)
-- it will actually generate where clause PersonName Like 'param1%' or PersonName Like 'param2%' or ...
set #subWhere = STUFF(
(
SELECT ' OR PersonName like ''' + [NameToSelect] + '%'''
FROM [NamesToSelect] t FOR XML PATH('')
), 1, 4, '')
-- create the dynamic SQL
set #sql ='select
PersonName
,Gender
,BirstDate -- and other field here
from [Persons]
where
Gender = #gender
AND BirthDate = #birthDate
AND (' + #subWhere + ')'
set #params = ' #gender nchar(1),
#birthDate Date'
EXECUTE sp_executesql #sql, #params,
#gender,
#birthDate

If you are using MySQL the closest you can get is full-text search:
Full-Text Search, MySQL Documentation

This works for comma separated values
DECLARE #ARC_CHECKNUM VARCHAR(MAX)
SET #ARC_CHECKNUM = 'ABC,135,MED,ASFSDFSF,AXX'
SELECT ' AND (a.arc_checknum LIKE ''%' + REPLACE(#arc_checknum,',','%'' OR a.arc_checknum LIKE ''%') + '%'')''
Evaluates to:
AND (a.arc_checknum LIKE '%ABC%' OR a.arc_checknum LIKE '%135%' OR a.arc_checknum LIKE '%MED%' OR a.arc_checknum LIKE '%ASFSDFSF%' OR a.arc_checknum LIKE '%AXX%')
If you want it to use indexes, you must omit the first '%' character.

In Oracle RBDMS you can achieve this behavior using REGEXP_LIKE function.
The following code will test if the string three is present in the list expression one|two|three|four|five (in which the pipe "|" symbol means OR logic operation).
SELECT 'Success !!!' result
FROM dual
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE('three', 'one|two|three|four|five');
RESULT
---------------------------------
Success !!!
1 row selected.
Preceding expression is equivalent to:
three=one OR three=two OR three=three OR three=four OR three=five
So it will succeed.
On the other hand, the following test will fail.
SELECT 'Success !!!' result
FROM dual
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE('ten', 'one|two|three|four|five');
no rows selected
There are several functions related to regular expressions (REGEXP_*) available in Oracle since 10g version. If you are an Oracle developer and interested this topic this should be a good beginning Using Regular Expressions with Oracle Database.

No answer like this:
SELECT * FROM table WHERE something LIKE ('bla% %foo% batz%')
In oracle no problem.

In Teradata you can use LIKE ANY ('%ABC%','%PQR%','%XYZ%'). Below is an example which has produced the same results for me
--===========
-- CHECK ONE
--===========
SELECT *
FROM Random_Table A
WHERE (Lower(A.TRAN_1_DSC) LIKE ('%american%express%centurion%bank%')
OR Lower(A.TRAN_1_DSC) LIKE ('%bofi%federal%bank%')
OR Lower(A.TRAN_1_DSC) LIKE ('%american%express%bank%fsb%'))
;
--===========
-- CHECK TWO
--===========
SELECT *
FROM Random_Table A
WHERE Lower(A.TRAN_1_DSC) LIKE ANY
('%american%express%centurion%bank%',
'%bofi%federal%bank%',
'%american%express%bank%fsb%')

Sorry for dredging up an old post, but it has a lot of views. I faced a similar problem this week and came up with this pattern:
declare #example table ( sampletext varchar( 50 ) );
insert #example values
( 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.' ),
( 'Ask not what your country can do for you.' ),
( 'Cupcakes are the new hotness.' );
declare #filter table ( searchtext varchar( 50 ) );
insert #filter values
( 'lazy' ),
( 'hotness' ),
( 'cupcakes' );
-- Expect to get rows 1 and 3, but no duplication from Cupcakes and Hotness
select *
from #example e
where exists ( select * from #filter f where e.sampletext like '%' + searchtext + '%' )
Exists() works a little better than join, IMO, because it just tests each record in the set, but doesn't cause duplication if there are multiple matches.

This is possible in Postgres using like or ilike and any or all with array. This is an example that worked for me using Postgres 9:
select id, name from tb_organisation where name ilike any (array['%wembley%', '%south%']);
And this prints out:
id | name
-----+------------------------
433 | South Tampa Center
613 | South Pole
365 | Bromley South
796 | Wembley Special Events
202 | Southall
111 | Wembley Inner Space

In T-SQL, this option works but it is not very fast:
CREATE FUNCTION FN_LIKE_IN (#PROC NVARCHAR(MAX), #ITENS NVARCHAR(MAX)) RETURNS NVARCHAR(MAX) AS BEGIN
--Search an item with LIKE inside a list delimited by "," Vathaire 11/06/2019
DECLARE #ITEM NVARCHAR(MAX)
WHILE CHARINDEX(',', #ITENS) > 0 BEGIN
SET #ITEM = LEFT(#ITENS, CHARINDEX(',', #ITENS) - 1)
--IF #ITEM LIKE #PROC
IF #PROC LIKE #ITEM
RETURN #PROC --#ITEM --1
ELSE
SET #ITENS = STUFF(#ITENS, 1, LEN(#ITEM) + 1, '')
END
IF #PROC LIKE #ITENS RETURN #PROC --#ITEM --1
RETURN NULL --0
END
Query:
SELECT * FROM SYS.PROCEDURES
WHERE DBO.FN_LIKE_IN(NAME, 'PRC%,SP%') IS NOT NULL

you can do this dynamically for a large number of elements, at the expense of performance, but it works.
DECLARE #val nvarchar(256),
#list nvarchar(max) = 'one,two,three,ten,five';
CREATE table #table (FIRST_NAME nvarchar(512), LAST_NAME nvarchar(512));
CREATE table #student (FIRST_NAME nvarchar(512), LAST_NAME nvarchar(512), EMAIL
nvarchar(512));
INSERT INTO #student (FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, EMAIL)
SELECT 'TEST', ' redOne' ,'test.redOne#toto.com' UNION ALL
SELECT 'student', ' student' ,'student#toto.com' UNION ALL
SELECT 'student', ' two' ,'student.two#toto.com' UNION ALL
SELECT 'hello', ' ONE TWO THREE' ,'student.two#toto.com'
DECLARE check_cursor CURSOR FOR select value from STRING_SPLIT(#list,',')
OPEN check_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM check_cursor INTO #val
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
PRINT #val
IF EXISTS (select * from #student where REPLACE(FIRST_NAME, ' ','')
like '%' + #val + '%' OR REPLACE(LAST_NAME, ' ','') like '%' + #val + '%')
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #table (FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME )
SELECT TOP 1 FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME VALUE from #student where
REPLACE(FIRST_NAME, ' ','') like '%' + #val + '%' OR REPLACE(LAST_NAME, ' ','')
like '%' + #val + '%'
END;
FETCH NEXT FROM check_cursor INTO #val
END
CLOSE check_cursor;
DEALLOCATE check_cursor;
SELECT * FROM #table;
DROP TABLE #table;
DROP TABLE #student;

use cursor in SQL SERVER and execute for every value:
table sample:
create table Gastos_ConciliacionExcluida(IdRegistro int identity(1,1), MascaraTexto nvarchar(50), Activa bit default 1, Primary key (IDRegistro))
insert into Gastos_ConciliacionExcluida(MascaraTexto) Values ('%Reembolso%')
alter procedure SP_Gastos_ConciliacionExcluidaProcesar
as
declare cur cursor for select MascaraTexto From Gastos_ConciliacionExcluida where Activa=1
declare #Txt nvarchar(50)
open cur
fetch next from cur into #Txt
while ##Fetch_Status = 0
begin
update Gastos_BancoRegistro set PresumibleNoConciliable = 1
where Concepto like #txt
fetch next from cur into #Txt
end
close cur
deallocate cur

do this
WHERE something + '%' in ('bla', 'foo', 'batz')
OR '%' + something + '%' in ('tra', 'la', 'la')
or
WHERE something + '%' in (select col from table where ....)

Spring Data JPA - count number or results of query

I want to get the number of results of a query in Spring Data Jpa, using a non-native #Query method. It consists of a basic group by plus a having clause.
My plain query looks like this (analogous example):
select count(*) from (
select 1 from table t
where t.field_a = 1
group by t.id
having count(*) = 2) a;
Since Hibernate 5 does not allow subqueries in the form clause, I have to find a workaround for that. The only one I found is very inefficient as per the query plan:
select count(*) from table t
where t.field_a = 1 and
2 = (select count(*) from table temp where temp.id = t.id);
Is there a way to write a Spring Data JPA query that's as efficient as the first one? I can think of no solution rather than selecting the inner query and taking its size() in java, but that can produce issues due to a ton of redundant data passing through the network.

There is no easy solution to count the results of a subquery in JPA but the a workaround is proposed here https://arjan-tijms.omnifaces.org/2012/06/counting-rows-returned-from-jpa-query.html.
The principle is to build a native query based on the initial Jpa subselect query.

This does the job if you accept to count the elements in java !
Query q = em.createQuery(
"select 1 from table t where field_a = 1 " +
"group by t.id having count(*) = 2");
int count = q.getResultList().size();
(performances depending on the number of lines returned, but the projection is very light : 1)

How can I create rows for dates missing from a range?

I am trying to get data for all dates in a range provided by my query, but I'm only getting the dates that actually exist in my table - missing dates are not reported. I need to create records in the table for those missing dates, with other columns left null, and then include them in the results.
My table table_name has records like:
ID Name Date_only
---- ---- -----------
1234 xyz 01-Jan-2014
1234 xyz 02-Jan-2014
1234 xyz 04-Jan-2014
...
For example, for the range 01-Jan-2014 to 04-Jan-2014, my query is:
select * from table_name
where id=1234
and (date_only >= '01-Jan-14' and date_only <= '04-Jan-14')
From Java or queried directly this shows three rows, with no data for 03-Jan-2014.
I need a single statement to insert rows for any missing dates into the table and return the data for all four rows. How can I do that?
UPDATE
Followed query worked for only if only 1 record available in table OR search range 2-5 days,
SELECT LEVEL, to_date('2014-11-08','yyyy-mm-dd') + level as day_as_date FROM DUAL CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 10 .
UPDATE WITH FIDDLE EXAMPLE
I got Error is:
I have table data and same query executed then i got error is ORA-02393: exceeded call limit on CPU usage, fiddle example is : my owntable sqlfiddle example .thanks in advance

you can use the below SQL for your purpose.The sql fiddle here http://sqlfiddle.com/#!4/3ee61/27
with start_and_end_dates as (select min(onlydate) min_date
,max(onlydate) max_date
from mytable
where id='1001'
and onlydate >= to_date('01-Jan-2015','dd-Mon-YYYY')
and onlydate <= to_date('04-Jan-2015','dd-Mon-YYYY')),
missing_dates as (select min_date + level-1 as date_value
from start_and_end_dates connect by level <=(max_date - min_date) + 1)
select distinct id,name,date_value
from mytable,missing_dates
where id='1001'
order by date_value
EDIT1:- Using your other example.The sqlfiddle is http://sqlfiddle.com/#!4/4c727/16
with start_and_end_dates as (select min(onlydate) min_date
,max(onlydate) max_date
from mytable
where name='ABCD'),
missing_dates as (select min_date + level-1 as date_value
from start_and_end_dates connect by level <=(max_date - min_date) + 1)
select distinct id,name,date_value
from mytable,missing_dates
where name='ABCD'
order by date_value;

You can use a query like
SELECT LEVEL, to_date('2014-01-01','yyyy-mm-dd') + level as day_as_date
FROM DUAL
CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 1000
to get a list of 1000 days from Jan 1 2014 (adjust to your need)
Next do an insert from select
INSERT INTO table_name (date_only)
SELECT day_as_date FROM (<<THE_QUERY_ABOVE>>)
WHERE day_as_date NOT IN (SELECT date_only FROM table_name)

Select query with multiple where clauses

I have a list of serial numbers: 111111, 222222, AAAAAA, FFFFFF and I want to return a corresponding value or null from a table depending on whether or not the value exists.
Currently I loop through my list of serial numbers, query using the following statement:
"SELECT cnum FROM table WHERE serial_num = " + serialNumber[i];
and then use the value if one is returned.
I would prefer to do this is one query and get results similar to:
Row | cnum
------------
1 | 157
2 | 4F2
3 | null
4 | 93O
5 | null
6 | 9F3
Is there a query to do this or am I stuck with a loop?

It sounds as if you have some sort of Java Array or Collection of serial numbers, and perhaps you want to check to see if these numbers are found in the DB2 table, and you'd like to do the whole list all at once, rather than one at a time. Good thinking.
So you want to have a set of rows with which you can do a left join to the table, with null indicating that the corresponding serial was not in the table. Several answers have started to use this approach. But they are not returning your row number, and they are using SELECT UNION's which seems a round-about way to get what you want.
VALUES clause
Your FROM clause can be a "nested-table-expression"
which can be a (fullselect)
with a correlation-clause. The (fullselect) can, in turn, be a VALUES clause. So you could have something like this:
FROM (VALUES (1, '157'), (2, '4F2'), (3, '5MISSING'), (4, '93O'), ...
) as Lst (rw, sn)
You can then LEFT JOIN this to the table, and get a two-column result table like you asked for:
SELECT Lst.rn, t.serial_num
FROM (VALUES (1, '157'), (2, '4F2'), (3, '5MISSING'), (4, '93O'), ...
) as Lst (rw, sn)
LEFT JOIN sometable t ON t.serial_num = Lst.sn
With this method, you will probably need a loop to build your dynamic SQL statement string, using the values from your collection.
If it was embedded SQL, we might be able to reference a host array variable containing your serial numbers. But alas, in Java I am not sure how to manage using the list directly in SQL, without using some loop.

If you use only an "in" it is not going to return null for the missing value forcing you to do some coding in the application (probably the most efficient way).
If you wanted the database to do all the work (may or may not be ideal) then
you would have to trick db2 into returning your list regardless.
Something like this might work, faking the null values to be returned from sysdummy with the common table expression (with part):
with all_serials as (
select '111111' as serialNumber from sysibm.sysdummy1 union all ,
select '222222' as serialNumber from sysibm.sysdummy1 union all ,
select 'AAAAAA' as serialNumber from sysibm.sysdummy1 union all ,
select 'FFFFFF' as serialNumber from sysibm.sysdummy1
)
select
t1.serialNumber,
t2.serialNumber as serialNumberExists
from
all_serials as t1 left outer join
/* Make sure the grain of the_Table is at "serialNumber" */
the_table as t2 on t1.serialNumber = t2.serialNumber

You can use the SQL IN keyword. You'd need to dynamically generate the list, but basically it'd look like:
SELECT cnum FROM table WHERE serial_num in ('111111', '2222222', '3333333', 'AAAAAAA'...)

Try something like:
select t.cnum
from
(select '111111' serial_num from sysibm.sysdummy1 union all
select '222222' serial_num from sysibm.sysdummy1 union all
select 'AAAAAA' serial_num from sysibm.sysdummy1 union all
select 'FFFFFF' serial_num from sysibm.sysdummy1) v
left join table t on v.serial_num = t.serial_num

I'm not sure if I get you correctly, but this could help:
String query = "SELECT cnum FROM table WHERE ";
for(int i = 0; i < serialNumber.length; i++)
query += "serial_num='" + serialNumber[i] + "' OR ";
query += "serial_num IS NULL "
System.out.println(query);

How to get the last 3 distinct ids from a mysql table

Ok so basically I have my database table. The first column is the id. The second is a pkg_id. The 3rd is not important and the 4th is the previous id that the pkg_id was located at. I need to pull the last 3 pkg_id's from the table. So basically I need to pull the last 3 17879 pkg_id's and the last 3 3075. So in this example I need to pull id 9 , 7 , 6 for 17879 and id 8, 5, 3 for 3075.
I can't get my head around it. I do have access to the previous id that it was. So you see that for id 9 it says that 17879 was last in id 7. That id 8 was last in id 5.
If anybody could help me write a query that would be great. I'm also using Java for database access so it doesn't have to be just in mysql. Thanks so much.

SELECT m.*
FROM (
SELECT pkg_id,
COALESCE(
(
SELECT id
FROM mytable mi
WHERE mi.pkg_id = md.pkg_id
ORDER BY
id DESC
LIMIT 2, 1
), 0) AS mid
FROM (
SELECT DISTINCT pkg_id
FROM mytable
) md
) q
JOIN mytable m
ON m.pkg_id <= q.pkg_id
AND m.pkg_id >= q.pkg_id
AND m.id >= q.mid
Create an index on mytable (pkg_id, id) for this to work fast.
Note this condition: m.pkg_id <= q.pkg_id AND m.pkg_id >= q.pkg_id instead of mere m.pkg_id = q.pkg_id. This is required for the index to be used efficiently.