Question

I want to achieve one thing though I’m not sure if it’s possible.
So let’s say I have a table with few columns, but only two of them are of interest to me right now. Example of table:

Column 1  | Column 2 
blabla    | blablahhhhh
wor154    | blablahhhhh
word123   | word12435564
something | some4565

What I want to achieve, is to select all fields where first 5 or more symbols of value of Column 2 don’t match with first 5 or more symbols of value of Column 1. So I don’t want to select rows where 5 or more symbols of value of Column 1 match 5 or more symbols of value of Column 2. In example, query should return only 2nd and 4th rows
So, is it possible and if it’s, how it can be achieved. Thank you.

Answer 1

I’d go with a SUBSTRING():

SELECT col1 FROM table WHERE SUBSTRING(col1, 1, 5) <> SUBSTRING(col2, 1, 5);