Question

i have a database in MySql that has a name column in it which contains several words(description). I am connected to database with java through eclipse. I have a search, that returns results if only name field contains one word.
id:………………name:…………..info:………………….type:>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
1……………….balloon……….big red balloon…………….big>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2………………..house……….expensive beautiful…………luxury>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
3…………….chicken wings…….deep fried wings……………tasty

these are just random words but as an example my search can only see ex. balloon and then show info,
but if i type chicken wings, it does nothing. so it possible somehow to search from columns with multiple words?
this is my search code below

import java.io.*;
import java.sql.*;
import java.util.*;

class Search {

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Scanner inp``ut = new Scanner(System.in);

    try {
        Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection(
                "jdbc:mysql://example/mydb", "user", "password");
        Statement stmt = (Statement) con.createStatement();

        System.out.print("enter search: ");
        String name = input.next();

            String SQL = "SELECT * FROM menu where name LIKE '" + name + "'";

        ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(SQL);

        while (rs.next()) {
            System.out.println("Name: " +rs.getString("name"));
            System.out.println("Description:  " + rs.getString("info") );
            System.out.println("Price: " + rs.getString("Price"));

        }

    } catch (Exception e) {
        System.out.println("ERROR: " + e.getMessage());
    }
}
} 

Answer 1

The way you are performing the search now, you are at first vulnerable to sql injection and might want to use the PreparedStatement of JDBC instead of the normal statement.

Second, I would recommend splitting the user input at the space and searching for all the terms alone with “OR”.

Example: User inputs house expensive beautiful

Search would be:

SELECT * FROM menu where name LIKE '%house%' OR name LIKE '%expensive%' OR name LIKE '%beaufitful%'

I have put percentage signs because if you would search for ‘house’, only the exact term “house” will be matched. By searching with “%house%”, the strings “somethingbeforehouse” and “houseandsomethingafter” will be also found.

Hope this helps you!