mysql regular expression

I found this query in mysql query log and I will like to know what exactly does it do.

select * from tblname WHERE TRIM(NAME) REGEXP 'John[      ]*S开发者_运维百科mith'

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It selects all rows from tblname where name (with spaces around removed, if any) equals to John<any number of spaces>Smith

So you'll find JohnSmith as well as John_________________________Smith (stackoverflow eats repetitive spaces, so I replaced them with underscore).

The regex itself is a little bloated and can be rewritten as John *Smith