[SOLVED] Select fields by first letters in "array"?

[nvso]

Hello

 

I have a mysql table listing peoples names, to simplify it, let's say it only has two fields: ID and SURNAME:

 

DATA:

 

ID  | SURNAME

---------------

1  | Smith

2  | Jackson

3  | Goldberger

4  | Baker

5  | Evans

 

... and so on..

 

Now, let's say I have a php page listing all these people, normally I would page the "results" like, display first 20 people and rest on other result pages, but now I would like to display the results like:

 

A-G --- H-N --- O-T --- U-Z

 

If I select A-G, how would I query for all those people whose surname begins with letters from A to G (a,b,c,d,e,f,g) - let's say I have the data for necessary letters in that format? Is it possible some other way than SELECT surname FROM names WHERE surname LIKE A% OR surname LIKE B%... ?

 

Thanks for helping a dummy

- M

[kkubek]

How about:

 

SELECT surname

FROM names

WHERE left(surname,1) in ('A','B','C' ......)

 

A little better than the ugly OR

[nvso]

ok worked fine, thanks!