making an internal search

**fastbuilder** · Jun 5, 2007 00:06

i need to make an internal search for my website.

I need to be able to search through maybe 5-10 Mysql tables. the thing i was looking into was the LIKE function in mysql...

but, i dont really know how to use that...

any help would be appreciated, or a good script others use.

**Surgeon** · Jun 5, 2007 00:11

Easy way is:

Code:

SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE some_column LIKE '%some%text%'

% is a wildcard in SQL (like the * in php), there are other ways of searching like this, you should do a search on that using google.

Hope this helps :0

**praetor** · Jun 5, 2007 00:23

If you need to search text in 5-10 tables you need a db redesign.. With the pages/articles stored in the same table. Then, you can use full text search too for better search.

**Raju Gautam** · Jun 5, 2007 02:42

Originally Posted by praetor

If you need to search text in 5-10 tables you need a db redesign.. With the pages/articles stored in the same table. Then, you can use full text search too for better search.

Originally Posted by fastbuilder

i need to make an internal search for my website.

I need to be able to search through maybe 5-10 Mysql tables. the thing i was looking into was the LIKE function in mysql...

but, i dont really know how to use that...

any help would be appreciated, or a good script others use.

The LIKE operator could not be the solution for search. But Full Text search is the best way of searching your whole database. Study about it in the MySQL manual. And i also think that as praetor said you should change the database table structure too since it will be very though to search in all 5 tables.

**fastbuilder** · Jun 5, 2007 03:55

i need to make an internal search for my website.

I need to be able to search through maybe 5-10 Mysql tables. the thing i was looking into was the LIKE function in mysql...

but, i dont really know how to use that...

any help would be appreciated, or a good script others use.

**Dr John** · Jun 5, 2007 04:29

You can't search "maybe 5 - 10 MySQL tables", you have to specify the tables and the columns (attributes) in your search query.

Select attributes
from tablename
where attribute7 like 'fred%';

finds any occurrance in column attribute7 in tablename that starts with fred

Select attributes
from tablename
where attribute7 like '%fred%';

finds any occurence in the column attribute7 in tablename that has fred anywhere in it

Select attributes
from tablename
where attribute7 like '%fred';

finds any instance in column attribute7 in tablename that ends in fred

And if you want to search another table you then need a second query

Select otherAttributes
from otherTablename
where attribute2 like '%fred%';

and so on

you can NOT say the equivalent of "is fred anywhere in any of my tables"

**TheAnarchist** · Jun 5, 2007 05:34

Originally Posted by Dr John

You can't search "maybe 5 - 10 MySQL tables", you have to specify the tables and the columns (attributes) in your search query.

Select attributes
from tablename
where attribute7 like 'fred%';

finds any occurrance in column attribute7 in tablename that starts with fred

Select attributes
from tablename
where attribute7 like '%fred%';

finds any occurence in the column attribute7 in tablename that has fred anywhere in it

Select attributes
from tablename
where attribute7 like '%fred';

finds any instance in column attribute7 in tablename that ends in fred

And if you want to search another table you then need a second query

Select otherAttributes
from otherTablename
where attribute2 like '%fred%';

and so on

you can NOT say the equivalent of "is fred anywhere in any of my tables"

Not necessarily true. You can search more than one table at once. You just need to specify what you want from each table...

Code:

SELECT a.fieldOne, a.fieldTwo, b.fieldOne
FROM TableOne as a, TableTwo as b
WHERE a.fieldOne LIKE "%one%"
OR b.fieldOne LIKE "%one%"
AND a.fieldTwo LIKE "%two%";

**r937** · Jun 5, 2007 12:44

fastbuilder, please do not post the same thread again a fourth time

one thread per topic!

**fastbuilder** · Jun 5, 2007 23:34

i need to make an internal search for my website.

I need to be able to search through maybe 5-10 Mysql tables. the thing i was looking into was the LIKE function in mysql...

but, i dont really know how to use that...

any help would be appreciated, or a good script others use.

**barbara1712** · Jun 6, 2007 00:08

for LIKE see the following link

LIKE

**Raju Gautam** · Jun 6, 2007 01:14

Hey fastbuilder,

Did you read your last post with the same topic? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483102

It has been said, please do not post same topic twice or more. I think if you might be in ignore list here. Lol

Don't worry i am not the authorized person here to say so but just the request from my side if you have already posted the same topic, why do you need to post again it? You can just bump up in the same post.

**fastbuilder** · Jun 6, 2007 01:31

i need to make an internal search for my website.

I need to be able to search through maybe 5-10 Mysql tables. the thing i was looking into was the LIKE function in mysql...

but, i dont really know how to use that...

any help would be appreciated, or a good script others use.