SQL Queries

Tow quick questions ... 1/ Is it possible to select coun(*) from xxx where .... directly into a $variable? Rather than select * and mysql_numrows ... 2/ I am selecting from a database of UK postcodes. For Example, W13AB .. this is in London W1. Example 2 ... W113AB .. this is in London W11. If I "select * from table where postcode like '$postcode%' " and $postcode is"W1", it will pick up records for both W1 and W11. Can I "select * from table where postcode='$postcode' " But without the last three digits (i.e. W13AB -3 digits = W1)? This is doing a regular expression within the SQL query. Thanks Nick Boyle