Sql comparison operators

REGEXP

'.'             # any single character
'[A-z][0-9]'    # character range
'[0-9]*a'       # Matches any or no occurrences of [0-9].
''              #       Can be used for single chars and char ranges
'^a'            # matches lines starting with 'a'
'a$'            # matches lines ending with 'a'
'^aaa$'         # matches 'aaa'. not '*aaa*' (which is default in mySQL)
'aaa'           # matches '.*aaa.*' unless anchored with '^' or '$'

Example.

SELECT * FROM users WHERE name REGEXP '^Andr'

LIKE

glob-style matching (% represents any or no characters).

SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE 'Andr%';