Question

Suppose that two tables exist: users and groups.

How does one provide ‘simple search’ in which a user enters text and results contain both users and groups whose names contain the text?

The result of the search must distinguish between the two types.

Answer 1

The trick is to combine a UNION with a literal string to determine the type of ‘object’ returned. In most (?) cases, UNION ALL will be more efficient, and should be used unless duplicates are required in the sub-queries. The following pattern should suffice:

 SELECT 'group' type, name    FROM groups   WHERE name LIKE '%$text%' UNION ALL  SELECT 'user' type, name    FROM users   WHERE name LIKE '%$text%' 

NOTE: I’ve added the answer myself, because I came across this problem yesterday, couldn’t find a good solution, and used this method. If someone has a better approach, please feel free to add it.