MySQL - If It Starts With A Number Or Special Character

Question

SELECT * 
FROM `thread` 
WHERE forumid NOT IN (1,2,3) AND IF( LEFT( title, 1) = \'#\', 1, 0)
ORDER BY title ASC

I have this query which will select

Answer 1

  SELECT t.* 
    FROM `thread` t
   WHERE t.forumid NOT IN (1,2,3) 
     AND INSTR(t.title, '#') = 0
ORDER BY t.title

Use the INSTR to get the position of a given string - if you want when a string starts, check for 0 (possibly 1 - the documentation doesn't state if it's zero or one based).