The derived query methods of Spring Data JPA support JPQL LIKE expressions via keyword 'Like'. For example:

public interface EmployeeRepository extends CrudRepository<Employee, Long> {
    List<Employee> findByNameLike(String likeString);
}

Calling above method to find employee whose name ending with 'ana':

 List<Employee> list = repo.findByNameLike("%ana")

Example

Entity

@Entity
public class Employee {
    private @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    Long id;
    private String name;
    private String dept;
    private int salary;
    .............
}

Repository

public interface EmployeeRepository extends CrudRepository<Employee, Long> {
    List<Employee> findByNameLike(String likeString);
    List<Employee> findByDeptLike(String likeString);
}

Example Client

@Component
public class ExampleClient {

    @Autowired
    private EmployeeRepository repo;

    public void run() {
        List<Employee> employees = createEmployees();
        repo.saveAll(employees);

        System.out.println(" -- finding all employees --");
        Iterable<Employee> all = repo.findAll();
        all.forEach(System.out::println);

        System.out.println(" -- finding employee with name like %ana --");
        List<Employee> list = repo.findByNameLike("%ana");
        list.forEach(System.out::println);

        System.out.println(" -- finding employee with name like %a_a --");
        list = repo.findByNameLike("%a_a");
        list.forEach(System.out::println);

        System.out.println(" -- finding employee with dept name more than 3 chars --");
        list = repo.findByDeptLike("___%");
        list.forEach(System.out::println);
    }

    private List<Employee> createEmployees() {
        return Arrays.asList(
                Employee.create("Diana", "Admin", 3000),
                Employee.create("Mike", "IT", 1000),
                Employee.create("Rose", "IT", 4000),
                Employee.create("Sara", "Admin", 3500),
                Employee.create("Tanaka", "IT", 3000),
                Employee.create("Charlie", "IT", 4500)
        );
    }
}

Main class

public class ExampleMain {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context =
                new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(AppConfig.class);
        ExampleClient exampleClient = context.getBean(ExampleClient.class);
        exampleClient.run();
        EntityManagerFactory emf = context.getBean(EntityManagerFactory.class);
        emf.close();
    }
}

 -- finding all employees --
Employee{id=1, name='Diana', dept='Admin', salary=3000}
Employee{id=2, name='Mike', dept='IT', salary=1000}
Employee{id=3, name='Rose', dept='IT', salary=4000}
Employee{id=4, name='Sara', dept='Admin', salary=3500}
Employee{id=5, name='Tanaka', dept='IT', salary=3000}
Employee{id=6, name='Charlie', dept='IT', salary=4500}
 -- finding employee with name like %ana --
Employee{id=1, name='Diana', dept='Admin', salary=3000}
 -- finding employee with name like %a_a --
Employee{id=1, name='Diana', dept='Admin', salary=3000}
Employee{id=4, name='Sara', dept='Admin', salary=3500}
Employee{id=5, name='Tanaka', dept='IT', salary=3000}
 -- finding employee with dept name more than 3 chars --
Employee{id=1, name='Diana', dept='Admin', salary=3000}
Employee{id=4, name='Sara', dept='Admin', salary=3500}

Example Project

Dependencies and Technologies Used:

• spring-data-jpa 2.0.9.RELEASE: Spring Data module for JPA repositories.
  Uses org.springframework:spring-context version 5.0.8.RELEASE
• hibernate-core 5.3.5.Final: Hibernate's core ORM functionality.
  Implements javax.persistence:javax.persistence-api version 2.2
• h2 1.4.197: H2 Database Engine.
• JDK 1.8
• Maven 3.5.4