MySQL select with CONCAT condition

I'm trying to compile this in my mind.. i have a table with firstname and lastname fields and i have a string like "Bob Jones" or "Bob Michael Jones" and several others.

the thing is, i have for example Bob in firstname, and Michael Jones in lastname

so i'm trying to

SELECT neededfield, CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) as firstlast 
  FROM users 
 WHERE firstlast = "Bob Michael Jones"

but it says unknown column "firstlast".. can anyone help please ?

The aliases you give are for the output of the query - they are not available within the query itself.

You can either repeat the expression:

SELECT neededfield, CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) as firstlast 
FROM users
WHERE CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) = "Bob Michael Jones"

or wrap the query

SELECT * FROM (
  SELECT neededfield, CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) as firstlast 
  FROM users) base 
WHERE firstLast = "Bob Michael Jones"

Try this:

SELECT * 
  FROM  (
		SELECT neededfield, CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) as firstlast 
		FROM users 
	) a
WHERE firstlast = "Bob Michael Jones"

SELECT needefield, CONCAT(firstname, ' ',lastname) as firstlast 
FROM users 
WHERE CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) = "Bob Michael Jones"

Use CONCAT_WS().

SELECT CONCAT_WS(' ',firstname,lastname) as firstlast FROM users 
WHERE firstlast = "Bob Michael Jones";

The first argument is the separator for the rest of the arguments.

Try:

SELECT neededfield, CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) as firstlast 
  FROM users 
WHERE CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) = "Bob Michael Jones"

Your alias firstlast is not available in the where clause of the query unless you do the query as a sub-select.

There is an alternative to repeating the CONCAT expression or using subqueries. You can make use of the HAVING clause, which recognizes column aliases.

SELECT 
  neededfield, CONCAT(firstname, ' ', lastname) AS firstlast 
FROM
  users 
HAVING firstlast = "Bob Michael Jones"

Here is a working SQL Fiddle.