Allow Regex Match in MySQL SELECT Statement

Yes, we can do regex match in a select statement −

select yourColumnName from yourTableName where yourColumnName regexp '^yourValue';

Let us first create a table −

mysql> create table DemoTable1892
   (
   FirstName varchar(20)
   );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command −

mysql> insert into DemoTable1892 values('John');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1892 values('Adam');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1892 values('Jace');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1892 values('Johny');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1892 values('Johnson');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1892 values('Jack');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement −

mysql> select * from DemoTable1892;

This will produce the following output −

+-----------+
| FirstName |
+-----------+
| John      |
| Adam      |
| Jace      |
| Johny     |
| Johnson   |
| Jack      |
+-----------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Here is the query for a regex match in a MySQL select statement −

mysql> select FirstName from DemoTable1892 where FirstName regexp '^Jo';

This will produce the following output −

+-----------+
| FirstName |
+-----------+
| John      |
| Johny     |
| Johnson   |
+-----------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)