How to select first four letter of the column Distinct by select query in mysql?

Question

To make it clear, I have a column named PartyCode in the party table. It contains codes like

AAAA0, AAAA1, AAAA2, AAAA3...
ABAB0, ABAB1, ABAB2..

So what I want is first 4 letters of code and it should not be repeated ie. AAAA, ABAB.

I have tried it with DISTINCT and SUBSTR keyword but unable to do this. So I want to know that is that possible to do in one select query?

Answer 1

Refer the following question.You'll be able to get a help from it.

SELECT DISTINCT only first four numbers

Answer 2

Use "group by" instead of distinct:

select LEFT(partyCode,4) as code from parties group by code;

Distinct works too:

select distinct LEFT(partyCode,4) as code from parties;

So I don't quite know where your problem is.