Question

I want to do searching for data using users’ entry in a field. That is if user enters “D+t+y+g,k,j,h” want to search for values having letters “d and t and y and g or k or j or h”. I tried the PHP str_replace function, but didn’t like the result.

//kw is text field... 
if($kw != "") {
  //here we check for some data in field; if yes, continue below

  //c is for ',' replaced in JavaScript 
  $kw1 = str_replace("c"," OR bcm.keywords LIKE '$kw%' ",$kw);

  //p is for '+' replaced in JavaScript//'bcm' is table name.
  $kw3 = str_replace("p"," AND bcm.keywords LIKE '$kw%' ",$kw1);

  //for appending into main query string
  $app.=$kw3; 
  //$app.=" AND bcm.keywords LIKE '$kw%'";
}

…but for the input “D+t+y+g,k,j,h” the query is coming out like this:

AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' t 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' y 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' g 
OR bcm.keywords LIKE 'D 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' t 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' y 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' gckcjch%' k 
OR bcm.keywords LIKE 'D 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' t 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' y 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' gckcjch%' j 
OR bcm.keywords LIKE 'D 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' t 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' y 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'Dptpypgckcjch%' gckcjch%' h**

…when what I want/need is:

AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'D%' 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 't%' 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'y%' 
AND bcm.keywords LIKE 'g%' 
OR bcm.keywords LIKE 'k%' 
OR bcm.keywords LIKE 'j%' 
OR bcm.keywords LIKE 'h%'

Answer 1

A solution in javascript

var getSearchSql = function(kw) 
{
  if(kw != "") 
  {
    var ors = kw.split(",");
    var sql = "";
    var sqlVariable = "bcm.keywords";
    for(i = 0; i < ors.length; i++)
    {
      var ands = ors[i].split("+");
      sql += (i == 0)? "(": " OR (";
      for(j = 0; j < ands.length; j++)
      {
          sql += (j == 0)? "": " AND ";
          sql += sqlVariable + " LIKE '%" + ands[j] + "%' "
      }
      sql += ")"
    }
  }
  return sql;
}

yields the following (when kw = "D+t+y+g,k,j,h")

(bcm.keywords LIKE '%D%' 
    AND bcm.keywords LIKE '%t%' 
    AND bcm.keywords LIKE '%y%' 
    AND bcm.keywords LIKE '%g%') 
OR (bcm.keywords LIKE '%k%') 
OR (bcm.keywords LIKE '%j%') 
OR (bcm.keywords LIKE '%h%')