MySQL query to count records that begin with specific letters

Let us first create a table −

mysql> create table DemoTable775 (
FirstName varchar(100)
);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.78 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command −

mysql> insert into DemoTable775 values('Adam') ;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable775 values('Carol');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.22 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable775 values('John');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.16 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable775 values('Sam');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable775 values('Adan');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement −

mysql> select *from DemoTable775;

This will produce the following output -

+-----------+
| FirstName |
+-----------+
| Adam      |
| Carol     |
| John      |
| Sam       |
| Adan      |
+-----------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Following is the query to count records that begin with specific letters -

mysql> select count(*),substring(FirstName,1,2) from DemoTable775 group by substring(FirstName,1,2);

This will produce the following output -

+----------+--------------------------+
| count(*) | substring(FirstName,1,2) |
+----------+--------------------------+
| 2        | Ad                       |
| 1        | Ca                       |
| 1        | Jo                       |
| 1        | Sa                       |
+----------+--------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)