my $sql = qq{ SELECT item1 FROM basket WHERE item LIKE 'a%'
 UNION SELECT item2 FROM basket WHERE item2 LIKE 'a%'
 UNION SELECT item3 FROM basket WHERE item3 LIKE 'a%'
 UNION SELECT item4 FROM basket WHERE item4 LIKE 'a%'
 ORDER BY 1
};

##</code><code>##

while (my @ary = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
  # $ary[0] gives the value of each selected item
}

##</code><code>##

item1  perl
item2  python
item3  ruby
item4  php