analyze entered search 1

[DotNetGnat]

Guys,

I am trying to create a search function using php as frontend and mysql as the database.
I have a textbox where users can enter the search criteria and click submit button. using the search criteria, I am planning to write a LIKE query to hit the specific database tables and columns to find the results. Everything looks simple enough but my question is how to analyze the user entered search term.

I mean the user can enter the search criteria in any of the below formats...

examples:

php
mysql
php and mysql
php+mysql
php mysql

and so on...

How to interpret these kind of entries and create the query?
Is there a function that I can use to get the individual keywords and then use them in my query.

Please suggest. Thanks

-DNG

 

[jpadie]

don't use LIKE. use Full text. preferably with query expansion to enable the 'fuzzy logic'

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/fulltext-query-expansion.html

 

[DotNetGnat]

jpadie,

Thank you for guiding me in the right direction. I appreciate it. Have a star.

-DNG