DB String Search

Here is a function that i need to search through a database table "cartOptionsList" and each time its called i need to do 2 things. 1st match it with the current ID $optionID and than check if there is an astrik in that rows value * <--. If there is an astrik I want to use that as the return variable, if it is not i want to continue and just grab the 1st row in the table.

sounds confusing, its really not i just wish i could do it thank you ahead of time

<?php

function grabOption($optionID,$whichToGrab='optionName') {
$grabAstrik = MYSQL_QUERY("SELECT * FROM cartOptionsList WHERE optionName LIKE '%*%' AND optionID LIKE '$optionID'") or die (mysql_error());
if (mysql_num_rows($grabAstrik) == 0) {
$grabOption = MYSQL_QUERY("SELECT * FROM cartOptionsList WHERE optionID='$optionID' ORDER BY optionValue ASC LIMIT 1") or die (mysql_error());
while ($mysql=mysql_fetch_array($grabOption)) {
return "Yes";
return $mysql[$whichToGrab];
}
} else {
while ($mysql=mysql_fetch_array($grabAstrik)) {
if ($mysql[optionId] == $optionID) {
return "No";
return $mysql[$whichToGrab];
}
}
}
}
?>

No exactly sure what you are looking for, but maybe this:

That assumes the asterik * is the last char in the value. If it was the first char, it would be SUBSTRING(column_name, 1). The, you can check for the asterik in the returned set, if it is there, do something, if it is not do something else with the remainder of the row.