Question

Each Article can have unlimited categories.

Categories are saved in the database like this

example article_category: ‘1’,’3′,’8′

OR

example article_category: ‘2’,’3′

So when I search for a listing under, lets say category 3

$category_id = $_REQUEST['category_id'];  //3
$SQL = "SELECT * FROM ARTICLES WHERE article_category = '$category_id'";

If it were just one the above would work fine.

I hate to say it but I’m completely lost.. Would I use IN ?

Answer 1

= (equals) check against the complete string. what you want to do could be done using LIKE and the % comodin (it’s like * for files in dir or the like)

$SQL = "SELECT * FROM ARTICLES WHERE article_category LIKE \"%'$category_id'%\"";

however, i reccommend that you normalize the database and have categories as a subtable