>>Is there an SQL equivalent to the $ operator in VFP that does not use the CONTAINS function?
>
>See LIKE operator
>

>DECLARE @Lookfor varchar(10)
>SET @Lookfor ='i'
>IF 'My string' LIKE '%' + @Lookfor + '%'
>  PRINT 'Found ' + @Lookfor
>

I think this will work.
Thanks Sergey