How to use special characters in SQL Server LIKE clause -

i have table in want strings ab aabb aaabbb ...... n times followed b n times shown below.

eg table:

  value  ----------     ab    aabb    aaabbb    aaaabbbb    1    1a    abababa 

i want result table be:

 value     ----------  ab aabb aaabbb aaaabbbb 

i've tried this

select * [numtest] value '[a]+[b]+' 

but it's returning 0 rows.

can me how use special characters in sql server's like ?

here can work:

(edit - after o/p comment, commented parts not needed)

--with cte_goodvalues  --(     select value     table1     left(value,len(value)/2) = replicate('a',len(value)/2)         , right(value,len(value)/2) = replicate('b',len(value)/2)         , len(value)%2=0 --) --select replicate(' ', (select max(len(value))/2 cte_goodvalues)- len(value)/2) + value --from cte_goodvalues 

in cte - select values have left half a-s , right half b-s. find max length , use replicate needed empty spaces in front

demo (after edit)