Selecting all columns that start with XXX using a wildcard?

Question

I have several columns in my databases with similar names. How do I select those based on the word they start with? Here\'s an example table layout:

Answer 1

Here's a way I did it purely with MySQL:

SET SESSION group_concat_max_len = 2048;
SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(CONCAT(" ",CAST(column_name as CHAR(50)))) FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name='real_big_table' AND column_name LIKE 'prefix%' INTO @sub;
SET @x = CONCAT("SELECT ",@sub," FROM my_db.real_big_table WHERE my_db.real_big_table.country_id='US'");
PREPARE stmt FROM @x;
EXECUTE stmt;

My answer is inspired by this answer.

Note: My 'inner-DBA' (in the form of a small angel on my shoulder) tells me that needing to do this is probably a sign of bad DB structure, but my 'inner-hacker' (in the form of a small devil on my other shoulder) says "just get it done!"