mysql> insert into moo values ('moo1');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> select count(1) as npple, substring(fish,1, 3) as ra from moo group by ra order by npple;
+-------+------+
| npple | ra   |
+-------+------+
|     3 | fis  |
|     4 | moo  |
+-------+------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> select count(1) as npple, substring(fish, -2, 1) as ra from moo group by ra order by npple;
+-------+------+
| npple | ra   |
+-------+------+
|     7 |      |
+-------+------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> select substring(fish, -2, 1) from moo;
+------------------------+
| substring(fish, -2, 1) |
+------------------------+
| h                      |
| h                      |
| h                      |
| o                      |
| o                      |
| o                      |
| o                      |
+------------------------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> select count(1) as npple, substring(fish, -2, 1) as ra from moo group by ra order by npple;
+-------+------+
| npple | ra   |
+-------+------+
|     7 |      |
+-------+------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)