SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE text = 'abc'; +-------+------+ | id | text | +-------+------+ | 12345 | abc | | 12345 | abc | | 99999 | abc | +-------+------+ SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE text LIKE 'abc%' WHERE the_id_field_is_the_most_common; +-------+------+ | id | text | +-------+------+ | 12345 | abc | +-------+------+