How to search on a column without using LIKE?

From: John Smith <jsmith_at_company.com>
Date: 1997/09/23
Message-ID: <34271173.32963404@company.com>#1/1

A Developer asked me if there's a way to search within a column without using LIKE.

For example, there is a column called 'ORG_NAME' which contains a value (for example):

'STANS WIDGETS AND FLANGES LTD'.
He wants to be able to enter a query using any of the words in the name, i.e. STANS, WIDGETS, FLANGES without having to code WHERE ORG_NAME LIKE
'STAN%' OR WHERE ORG_NAME LIKE '%WIDGETS%' OR WHERE ORG_NAME LIKE
'%FLANGES%' etc.

He did suggest having a separate table which contained a foreign key on the parent table for each of the words, i.e.

ORG_ID WORD

1                 STAN
1                 WIDGETS
1                 FLANGES

It would probably work but is a bit clunky.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Andy Horne Received on Tue Sep 23 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT