Question

I’m sure this is simple, please forgive me if so,

I would like to know how to check if the first 5 letters of a column value (eg. name1) are equal to the first five letters of another column value eg. (name2)

I’m sure something simple like

SELECT * FROM table1
WHERE name1*first 5* = name2*first 5*

Thank
You

Answer 1

T-SQL:

SELECT *
FROM table1
WHERE LEFT(name1, 5) = LEFT(name2, 5)

but ANSI form is:

SELECT *
FROM table1
WHERE SUBSTRING(name1 FROM 1 FOR 5) = SUBSTRING(name2 FROM 1 FOR 5)

For PostgreSQL, use the ANSI form: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/functions-string.html