MySQL: Look for the same string in multiple columns

mysql, php, search, sql

Solution

Simple workaround:

SELECT * 
FROM projects 
WHERE 
    CONCAT(category,name,description,keywords,type) LIKE '%query%' 
ORDER BY name ASC;

You can add separators between columns if needed:

SELECT * 
FROM projects 
WHERE 
    CONCAT(category,"|",name,"|",description,"|",keywords,"|",type) LIKE '%query%' 
ORDER BY name ASC;

You can also use a fulltext search (you need to create a fulltext index as described here: How do FULLTEXT INDEXES on multiple columns work?)

SELECT *, MATCH (category,name,description,keywords,type) AGAINST ('query') AS score FROM projects WHERE MATCH (category,name,description,keywords,type) AGAINST ('query');

Problem

I am trying to make a search-page-like function. I want to make a query to look for "query" in "ColumnA" and "ColumnB" and "ColumnC" and "ColumnD". And select the rows which has the word/phrase "query" in any of those columns. This appears to work: ``` SELECT * FROM projects WHERE category LIKE '%query%' OR name LIKE '%query%' OR description LIKE '%query%'OR keywords LIKE '%query%' OR 'type' LIKE '%query%' ORDER BY name ASC ``` But it is lengthy. Is there any easier or more efficient way of doing this?

Original source

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