Question

I got headache to get a correct result when using FIND_IN_SET or LIKE.

Example my value in database like this 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

Lets say I have one form with many checkboxes. Each checkbox is coming with dynamic value which can add by users. Example value is colors and have green, yellow, white, black, red, pink, brown, etc...

My current structure tbl_colors & tbl_users

color_id  color_name
----------------------
1         yellow
2         black
3         green
.         ...
.         ...
20        pink

tbl_users

user_id  color_id
----------------------
1         1,2,3,4
2         3,4,5,6,8,9,10
3         1
.         ...
.         ...
20        1,10,20

Question

How do I normalize & restructure my current database above and easy me to count how much users like yellow color, brown color etc..

Answer 1

you need an extra link table.

tbl_colors
----------
color_id
color_name 

tbl_users
---------
user_id
...

tbl_users_colors_link
---------------------
user_id
color_id

Please note that link table shouldn’t include unique fields. Also no primary key is required. Only indexing id fields make sense.