Code Examples -> How to build a search query for any N number of words in a search string

	Join us on FaceBook
	Submit Your Code
	Poker Tournaments
	Poker Guide for Developers
	SEO Monitor
	UpTime Monitor
	My Favorite Examples
	My Favorite Articles
	Update Your Profile

More Weber Sites
	PHP Code Search
	Web Development Forums
	Learn MySQL Playing Trivia
	PHPBB2 Templates
	Web Development Resources
	Web Development Content
	Internet Security Software

Recommended Links
	PHPClasses
	PHP Editor
	PHP Jobs
	Vision.To Design
	Ajax Tutorials
	PHP Programming Help
	PHP/MySQL Programming
	Webmaster Resources
	Webmaster Forum
	XML meta language
	website builder

Recommended
	פרייסז - הכח לקנות עובר לידיים שלך
	Texas Holdem Poker Evangelists


BACK		ADD A COMMENT		SEND TO A FRIEND		ADD TO MY FAVORITES		ADD CODE EXAMPLES		PRINT

PHP Code Examples

Title :	How to build a search query for any N number of words in a search string
Categories :	PHP, Regexps, Search Engines, Search	Kelvin Poon
Date :	Mar 14th 2003
Grade :	4 of 5 (graded 1 times)
Viewed :	12334
File :	No file for this code example.
Images :	No Images for this code example.

Search :	More code by Kelvin Poon
Action :	Grade This Code Example
Tools :	My Examples List

Code

the Problem:

I am making a search engine and I would have the user to type a sentence to search for. Let's say
it is stored in $search. My search engine will bring up a result If and only if ALL of the words
in $search exist in the result. For example if

$search = Vax Useful Commands

Then the result is only true if

<?
(eregi(".*Vax.*Useful.*Commands.*", 'possible result'))
?>

is true

Now, I don't know how many words there are in $search initially. How do I do a search like that?
I mean if I know $search is 3 words then I can do

<?
$words = preg_split("/ /", $search);

if (eregi(".*words[0].*words[1].*words[2].*", 'possible result')) {
.....
}
?>

Even if I know how many words there are, every time the number of words in $search can be different.
another note is that my data is taken from a database.

The Solution:

If you have used explode() you can do a loop that goes through the array, for instance

<?
$searchwords=explode(' ', $search);

for ($x=0;$x<count($searchwords);$x++){
//build the search command OR build the query
// i recommend to make it a query, so:

$WHERE.= ' AND textfield=LIKE '"%'.$searchwords[$x].'%"';
}

//now cut off the first ' AND '
$WHERE=substr($WHERE,4,strlen($WHERE));

//now finish the query
$query="SELECT title,text,ID FROM tablename ".$WHERE;
?>

then proceed by doing the query and showing the results.

Related Code Examples

	SiteSearch 1.1: This app lets end users search your site for keywords. You specify which directories should be included in the search. Categories : Search, Search Engines, PHP
	Extract keywords from a string having words in " " count as one string. Categories : PHP, Strings, Regexps, Search
	Simple way to replace a variable value in a .conf (.ini) file using a webbrowser - the first stage of a complete universal configuration editor Categories : PHP, Regexps, Code Editors, Filesystem
	columned txt file to array()? Categories : Arrays, Strings, Regexps, PHP
	ereg -- Regular expression match Categories : PHP, PHP Functions, Regexps
	Calculate Body Mass Index Categories : PHP, Algorithms, Regexps
	Word normalizing Categories : Search, PHP
	php table decoder used to convert an html table to individual tokens through regular expressions Categories : PHP, Regexps, HTML and PHP
	Designed to help those implementing a MySQL search engine. Generates select query strings, given logical querys.I made a search engine class that extends this one mail me if intrested.Needs a few changes ( well its only version 1.0 ;) Categories : PHP Classes, MySQL, Search, Regexps
	An array of functions to use in checking user input to HTML forms : text, firstName, middleNameOrInit, lastName, email, web, digits, decimal, hex, genNum, USD, BPS, Euro, USphone, USzip Categories : PHP, Data Validation, Regexps
	DirtSearch Version 3.5 full function robust PHP and MySQL (and other databases) Site or Web Wide Search Engine Categories : PHP, MySQL, Complete Programs, Search, Databases
	Extended Get File List Function Categories : PHP, Filesystem, Search, Directories
	Simple PHP program which calls other PHP program you can pass the variables to other PHP program : by Raju Categories : PHP, PHP Options and Info, Regexps, Program Execution
	Clever Email Validation Function - E-Mail validation function with an eregi expression and socket connection. Categories : Email, PHP, Regexps
	Ping a Server and run a command to fix it if it is down Categories : PHP, Errors and Logging, Regexps

User Comments

	Jasp Jones wrote : 908 not sure of the php internals but would it be better to get the count before the for loop to save re-evaluating the count on each loop? also a nice way to get around chopping the first `AND` off is to put `WHERE 1 = 1` \|\| $ANDS cheers Jasp
	Roberto Schiabel wrote :917 `what if your search must apply more than one field. do you use a nested-cicle to build a sql statement to mach all the words in every field ? thanks (sorry for my english)`