Search a value within an Arry stored in MySQL

[Edward_1980]

I wonder: If you have a Database (MySQL) and store an array in it, is it possible to search for a variable within the array?

Database example:
Id = 1 | array = 1, 2 and 3.
Id = 2 | array = 3, 4 and 5.
So, find the ID for the case where - for example - 2 is stored in an array which is stored in a database. And if this is possible, can you give me a hint of how do do it?

[rachel2004]

I haven't tried doing it, but if you look at this as a performance issue, the time it takes to talk to the database, search the array, and then return results (if all of this is even possible), you could probably have just done a "SELECT array from arrayTable where arrayID = '2'" and then just searched the array outside of the db, no? You lose most of your speed with interacting with the db or reading/writing to the hard disk, so if you can minimize those events, your web app should be faster. But I know, you're not asking for opinions, you're asking whether your idea is possible. I don't think it would be possible since I don't see how you could issue array search functions to the db when you write you SQL statements. Maybe someone else can correct me if I'm wrong.

[Edward_1980]

Thank you very much for your reply. I will alter my plans now.

I'll tell why I asked this question.
I've got a News-database (over 1.000 articles) and some images. One images can be useful for more then 1 article, but of course there are images aswell which are not in use. So, I thought when I would put all the images in a database, PHP could count for me the numbers of articles they were used for and then delete the ones I don't use at all (saves some space). But I'll think of a better (and faster) way to do the same now.

Thanks a lot for your reply,
Edward