Re: Does MySQL have fuzzy matching or no?

bit-naughty_at_hotmail.com wrote:

> I want to know - if there is a string, say, "poop" in a field in a table,
> and I want to match it against the string "doop", and have the search
> return successful - can I? How, please?

[Quoted] If you are looking at strings that might sound similar if pronounced, then you could use the SOUNDEX() function to match to a pre-determined value, or the SOUNDS LIKE operator (which is, effectively, SOUNDEX(a) = SOUNDEX(b) ) to match to something else.
  SELECT * FROM table
  WHERE field1 SOUNDS LIKE field2 ;

If, OTOH, you are looking at strings that might be spelled similarly, you could use a REGEXP() function to match to variations in character sequence.   SELECT * FROM table
  WHERE field1 REGEXP '[pd]oop' ;

If you are looking for substrings within freeform strings, you can MATCH AGAINST IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE.
  SELECT * FROM table
  WHERE MATCH (field1) AGAINST ('poop' IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE) ;

-- 
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills, We Trust"
PGP public key available upon request