break query keywords up

[mickoni]

Hi. I'm unsure how to break a query up. Any advice. My current query is:

$query = "SELECT FROM general WHERE $item LIKE '%$string%' ORDER BY
faultno"

I am using the above query to search for 'faults' in a database using a text
box ($string) for the search criteria and a drop down box ($item) to select the column names.

If was to type in: "broken box" it would find it ok. However if I was to
type in "box broken" then the above search algorithm wouldn't find the
fault.

How do I break up the search string to be able to find the key words
"broken" and "box"?

Thanks for your time

---

PS. I have also tried to use this syntax, without luck

• $words = explode(" ", $string);
  -

• $query = "SELECT * FROM general WHERE ";

• foreach ($words as $word) {

• $query .= " (item LIKE '%$word%' ";
  }

** mainly because I need and AND in there.

[Anon]

Explode your search words, do a loop and iterate as many times as your search word count. Inside the loop, build a query with with a LIKE statement for each word.

Know what I mean ?