Re: Substring search

"szalas" <gszalach_at_hotmail.com> wrote in

> Is there any way to perform a substring search without full table scan
> (Oracle 8.1.7) and make it a little bit effective? I know that Oracle
> doesn't use index in search of the form:
> select * from table where column like '%substring%';
> but maybe there are some tricks to speed up queries like this

Having to search substrings are indicative of either a) a bad database design that does not store attributes at atomic level
b) not using Oracle Context to deal with large volumes of textual information

In the case of (a) you can resort to PQ for FTS, but that will be treating the symptoms and not addressing the problem.

In the case of (b) it is a matter of using the right tool for the job. Not all problems are nails. The hammer is not the only tool.

BTW, tricks are no substitute for common sense.

--
Billy