PHP Like thing similar to MySQL Like, for if statement?

I know, this question isn't actual but I've solved similar problem :)

My solution:

/**
 * SQL Like operator in PHP.
 * Returns TRUE if match else FALSE.
 * @param string $pattern
 * @param string $subject
 * @return bool
 */
function like_match($pattern, $subject)
{
    $pattern = str_replace('%', '.*', preg_quote($pattern, '/'));
    return (bool) preg_match("/^{$pattern}$/i", $subject);
}

Examples:

like_match('%uc%','Lucy'); //TRUE
like_match('%cy', 'Lucy'); //TRUE
like_match('lu%', 'Lucy'); //TRUE
like_match('%lu', 'Lucy'); //FALSE
like_match('cy%', 'Lucy'); //FALSE

look on strstr function

if ($something is like %$somethingother%)

Is it possible?

no.

I don't want to change the MySQL command, it's a long page with many stuff on it

Use some good editor, that supports regular expressions in find & replace, and turn it to something like:

if(stripos($something, $somethingother) !== FALSE){

}