Question

I have this query to search in two SQL tables. I am looking for a way to sort the result by occurrence. This is my query:

SELECT `parent_id`
FROM wp_forum_posts
WHERE text LIKE '%{$term1}%'
UNION
SELECT `id`
FROM wp_forum_threads
WHERE subject LIKE '%{$term1}%

Which is the best way, to get the results ordered?

Answer 1

The trick is first to use UNION ALL, which preserves duplicates (ordinary UNION removes duplicates), then select from that result. This query should do it:

select * from (
    select parent_id as mID, count(*) as cnt
    from wp_forum_posts
    where text like '%{$term1}%'
    group by 1
  UNION ALL
    select id, count(*)
    FROM wp_forum_threads
    where subject like '%{$term1}%
    group by 1) x
order by 2, 1