How to Search for Multiple Values within the Same Field in SQL

When constructing a search algorithm, it is often necessary to break a string into its component parts and search each part individually. This is particularly useful when dealing with search terms separated by spaces.

To achieve this in SQL, one might consider using the LIKE operator with a wildcard to match any characters before and after each search term. However, this approach is not very efficient, as it requires multiple LIKE clauses and can lead to performance issues.

Instead, a more effective solution is to use the IN operator. The IN operator allows you to search for values that match any of the values specified in a list. For example, the following query searches for products that contain either "Sony" or "TV" in their name:

SELECT name FROM Products WHERE name IN ('Sony', 'TV');

To search for multiple values separated by spaces, simply break the string into an array and use the IN operator as follows:

$search = "Sony TV with FullHD support";
$search = explode(' ', $search);

SELECT name
FROM Products
WHERE name IN (
    $search[0],
    $search[1],
    ...
);

Alternatively, you can use OR with the LIKE operator as shown below:

SELECT name
FROM Products
WHERE name LIKE '%$search[0]%' OR
      name LIKE '%$search[1]%' OR
      ...;

However, it is important to note that using OR requires at least one condition to be true, while AND requires all conditions to be true.