Question

I want to create a query where I can compare all columns in a table with my text and get the results. Something like this,

 $query="SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE `column1` LIKE '%text%', `column2`LIKE '%text%', `column3` LIKE '%text%' ......`columnN` LIKE '%text%'

Helps are appreciated.

Answer 1

You can use a FULLTEXT index:

CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX ON table_name (column1, column2, column3, ... columnN);

SELECT * FROM table_name 
WHERE MATCH(column1, column2, column3, ... columnN) AGAINST ('text')

This is not only easier to code, but it can run hundreds of times faster than using wildcard patterns LIKE '%text%'.

Note you must list the same columns in your MATCH() clause as the columns you specified for the index.

Another suggestion: if the multiple columns (column1, etc.) are really multiple values for the same type of thing, you should put them in a child table.

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Re your questions about getting errors:

My apologies, my example above was incomplete. CREATE INDEX requires that you give the index a name. For example:

CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX ftbeer ON beer (beer, brewery, style, type, aroma, 
  taste, strength, appearance, origin, rating, price, description);

Also if you use back-ticks, be careful to use them properly, to delimit table names or column names. You seem to have imbalanced back-ticks.