Test case ========== MariaDB [test]> create table test(id bigint, name varchar(10), location varchar(10)); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.039 sec) MariaDB [test]> insert into test values (1,'John','Dublin'), (2, 'Ann', 'London'), (3, 'Pat', 'Paris'), (3, 'Maria', 'Tokyo'); Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.006 sec) Records: 4 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0 MariaDB [test]> select * from test; +------+-------+----------+ | id | name | location | +------+-------+----------+ | 1 | John | Dublin | | 2 | Ann | London | | 3 | Pat | Paris | | 3 | Maria | Tokyo | +------+-------+----------+ 4 rows in set (0.000 sec) MariaDB [test]> select * from test where id='1 Thomas Edison'; +------+------+----------+ | id | name | location | +------+------+----------+ | 1 | John | Dublin | +------+------+----------+ 1 row in set, 1 warning (0.001 sec) MariaDB [test]> select * from test where id='1@ThomasŁEdison'; +------+------+----------+ | id | name | location | +------+------+----------+ | 1 | John | Dublin | +------+------+----------+ 1 row in set, 1 warning (0.001 sec) MariaDB [test]> select * from test where id='2 is it a bug'; +------+------+----------+ | id | name | location | +------+------+----------+ | 2 | Ann | London | +------+------+----------+ 1 row in set, 1 warning (0.001 sec) MariaDB [test]> select * from test where id='whoever'; Empty set, 1 warning (0.001 sec) MariaDB [test]> select * from test where id='whoever3'; Empty set, 1 warning (0.001 sec) MariaDB [test]> select * from test where id='3whoever'; +------+-------+----------+ | id | name | location | +------+-------+----------+ | 3 | Pat | Paris | | 3 | Maria | Tokyo | +------+-------+----------+ 2 rows in set, 1 warning (0.001 sec)