Using LIKE clause with large tables may be a serious performance problem, involving full table scans for even a very small result set. The time you need to get a result will increase tremendously. Using Oracle Text may help you overcome those issues. In this simple example in my Demo Application I am showing how to start using Oracle Text on a table. There are also many other features included with Oracle Text such as preferred terms, fuzzy searches, highlighting, and much more. All explained in Oracle Text Documentation. Try it out.