You cannot use SQL with arrays, but one way you could make your example is to use array_filter():
function like_abc($v) {
return strstr($v['name'], 'abc') !== false;
}
$filtered = array_filter($yourArray, 'like_abc');
or if you use PHP> = 5.3.0
$filtered = array_filter($yourArray,
function($v) { return strstr($v['name'], 'abc') !== false;});
ideone
EDIT:
PHPLinq:
$yourArray = array (
array('name' => 'abcd', 'age' => 20),
array('name' => 'dacb', 'age' => 45),
array('name' => 'aadd', 'age' => 32),
array('name' => 'babc', 'age' => 11),
array('name' => 'afgb', 'age' => 17),
);
$result = from('$people')->in($yourArray)
->where('$people["name"] => strstr($people["name"], "abc") !== false')
->select('$people');