[!--quoteo(post=354420:date=Mar 13 2006, 11:00 AM:name=wickning1)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(wickning1 @ Mar 13 2006, 11:00 AM) [snapback]354420[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--] First question: You can use the REGEX comparison: [code]SELECT * FROM company WHERE name REGEX '[[:digit:]].*'[/code] Second question: Use the MATCH AGAINST syntax, e.g. [code]SELECT * FROM company WHERE MATCH(name) AGAINST ('userinput')[/code] You'll probably want to create a fulltext index to make that fast. [/quote] First one its showing errors. i wish to check the names starting not only wiht one digit, 0-9. And the code you gave, i tried, its not running. error. And the second its working, but another problem also came. when i search part of a word(eg. comp) it will not display anyhting. But if i search with computer, it will display. is there any possibilie to use % % around the search string so that even i type "c", it will display computers,catridges,cameras etc. like that. Please help me on solving this. and i wish you explain the first once again. Thank you very much. Ganesh G Nair