Searching for Multiple Values within a Column Using SQL

When constructing a search mechanism, it's often necessary to search for multiple values within the same field. For instance, suppose you have a search string such as "Sony TV with FullHD support" and want to query a database using this string, breaking it down into individual words.

By exploiting either the IN or LIKE operators, you can achieve this functionality.

Using the IN Operator

The IN operator enables you to search for an exact match of multiple absolute values. To employ this method, structure your query as follows:

SELECT name FROM products WHERE name IN ( 'Value1', 'Value2', ... );

where 'Value1', 'Value2', and other values represent the specific terms you wish to search for.

Using the LIKE Operator

Alternatively, you can leverage the LIKE operator combined with the OR condition. While using the AND condition requires all specified conditions to be fulfilled, OR only requires one condition to be true. Consequently, your query would look like this:

SELECT name FROM products WHERE name LIKE '%Value1' OR name LIKE '%Value2';

By implementing either of these approaches, you can effectively perform multi-value searches within a specific field using SQL.