Searching on AlphaNumeric Content Only

Is there is a way to search only for the alphanumeric content of field in a db? I have an itemID field that contains item #'s that include dashes, forward slashes, etc, and I want people to be able to search for an item # even if they don't enter the punctuation exactly. Here's an example: let's say there is an itemID of 4D-2448-7PS but someone omits the dashes and searches on 4D24487PS. Is it possible in PHP to have the find be successful, even if the search criteria doesn't exactly match what's stored in the field? If this is possible, I'd appreciate it if someone could just point me in the right direction so I can read up on it. Thanks, Frank