SQL Question

Hi, We have a table with a char column: col1 char(15). I need to do the following: update A set col1 = ? where col1 matches "something*". The problem is that thelength of "something" is variable and can be anywhere from 2 to 15 characters. It works fine if "something" is 14 or less characters with * padded at the end. But, if "col1 is 15 characters long and if I pad it with a *, I am getting an error. I really need to pad it with a * because the length of col1 may change in the future and I cannot recode this application. Thanks in advance. Keith