Searching Multiple Fields

SQL and MySQL

[Maynard]

Hi there,

Is this the correct code for searching multiple fields for a keyword?

SELECT * FROM table
WHERE
(field1 LIKE "%keyword%" OR
field2 LIKE "%keyword%" OR
field3 LIKE "%keyword%" OR
field4 LIKE "%keyword%");

Thanks,
Maynard.

[Birdman]

It looks correct to me. I don't wrap the conditionals in parens, but it's probably allowed. If you want exact matched, be sure to put a space before and after the keyword or else you will get stemmed results. (ie. search fro drum will return drummer,drums,etc..)

[Woz]

Almost true Birdman. Putting a space around the search terms in the LIKE clause will catch "most" of the exact matches, but don't forget about punctuation! Constructing a true Exact clause is a little more complicated.

Onya
Woz

[Birdman]

Good call Woz! I guess you would have to cancel stemmed words out after retrieveing the result set.