Perform basic keyword searches

Use the etx_contains() operator to define, qualify, and fine-tune searches of text.

The etx_contains() operator takes three arguments: the first are two required, the third is optional. Use the first argument to specify the column that contains your search text. Use the second argument to specify what you are searching for, called a clue or a search string. The third optional argument is a statement local variable (SLV), used to return scoring information from a search.

To perform a search, use the etx_contains() operator in the WHERE clause of a SELECT statement. For example, search the column description for the word multimedia:

SELECT id, description FROM videos
    WHERE etx_contains(description, 'multimedia');

This example illustrates a keyword search, the default search type, shown in the following figure. The top section of the figure shows a table and its contents, and the bottom section shows the results of the search.

Shows a basic search for rows that contain the keyword "multimedia" from a table whose column has various spellings for the keyword. The hitlist is two returned rows that have the same spelling as the search keyword. — Figure 1: Basic keyword search illustrated

The example query can also be specified as:

SELECT id, description FROM videos
    WHERE etx_contains(description, Row('multimedia'));

This example creates the clue multimedia by using the Row() constructor. If you do not specify any of the tuning parameters described in Tuning parameters, the Row() constructor in the etx_contains() operator is optional.