Best way to select values that start with symbols

Question

I have category ( title ) start with alphabetical A

$sql = "select * from category_data WHERE category LIKE 'A%'";

And is working, but how I can select from database the category ( title ) which don't start with [A-Z] or [1-9] just with symbols

Answer 1

SELECT * FROM category_data WHERE ASCII(UPPER(LEFT(category,1))) IN(...)

You can pass allowed ASCII characters in your IN clause.

If you want to skip specific range, you can use NOT BETWEEN x AND y;