Distinct Partial Matches: RegExp

This might be really easy, but I'm just not sure how to write this query and my searching on google isn't finding me things, probably because I am searching for the wrong terms. I have a bunch of records where the "area" column is like: animal-dog-5 animal-dog-3 animal-cat-1 animal-cat-22 animal-bird-5 What I want to do is run a distinct query on just the part previous to the number. animal-dog animal-cat animal-bird So in other words, something like this, but I am not sure if this is the right way to go: $query = "SELECT DISTINCT area FROM table WHERE REGEXP 'anynumberofletters dash anynumberofletters dash '" Of course, I could be barking up the wrong tree with the REGEXP thing. Anyone care to point me in the right direction? -- Kevin Murphy Webmaster: Information and Marketing Services Western Nevada Community College www.wncc.edu 775-445-3326 -- Kevin Murphy Webmaster: Information and Marketing Services Western Nevada Community College www.wncc.edu 775-445-3326