Question

I want to search the styleID and colorID fields on multiple inputs. For example I’d like to search the table where styleID = 3, styleID = 4, colorID =1, colorID = 5 and then group those results by boxID. Ordering the results by the number of actual matches within that group.

A boxID that contains a styleID of 4 and styleID of 3 and colorID of 1 and colorID of 5 would show first as it matches all the criteria.

ID  boxID       styleID     colorID     keywords

1   1           4           1           Sexy Tie

2   1           3           2           Red Tie

3   1           3           6           Striped Blue

4   2           3           2           Checkers

5   2           3           5           It's not blue

6   2           4           6           Cyan is purple

7   3           4           2           Fancy

8   3           4           5           Fancy

9   3           4           2           Fancy

Answer 1

You could try something like that

select boxId, sum(matches) 
from (select boxID, 
      (case when styleId IN (4) then 1 else 0 end) + 
      (case when colorId in (1, 5) then 1 else 0 end) matches 
       from test) t1
group by boxId
order by sum(matches) desc;

http://sqlfiddle.com/#!2/b5879/20