sql select with column name like

Question

I have a table with column names a1,a2...,b1.b2....

How can I select all those with column names like a%?

Answer 1

Thank you @Blorgbeard for the genious idea.

By the way Blorgbeard's query was not working for me so I edited it:

DECLARE @Table_Name as VARCHAR(50) SET @Table_Name = 'MyTable'          -- put here you table name
DECLARE @Column_Like as VARCHAR(20) SET @Column_Like = '%something%'    -- put here you element
DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) SET @sql = 'select '

SELECT @sql = @sql + '[' + sys.columns.name + '],'
FROM sys.columns 
JOIN sys.tables ON sys.columns.object_id = tables.object_id
WHERE sys.columns.name like @Column_Like
and sys.tables.name = @Table_Name

SET @sql = left(@sql,len(@sql)-1) -- remove trailing comma
SET @sql = @sql + ' from ' + @Table_Name

EXEC sp_executesql @sql