CONTEXT and Alternatives

From: Ed Jennings <jenningse_at_mindspring.com>
Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 21:47:38 -0400
Message-ID: <35A4213A.5F6D@mindspring.com>

I'm running Oracle 7.3.3 with the context option. I have a LONG column that contains ascii text. Within the data is embedded phone numbers with and without embedded formatting (i.e. "123-456-7890" and/or "1234567890").

Searches with CONTAINS '456' would locate the first form only.
Searches with CONTAINS '1234567890' would locate the second form only.
Searches with CONTAINS '123-456-7890' would not locate any rows.

I'm using all default values when I set up my POLICY. Are there any options that I can use to cause searches to be a little more flexible? In the example above, I'd like a search on '456' to return both of those rows as hits.

On a side note: Are there any alternatives to using context. The user base I'm supporting is used to searches on raw text fields behaving like string searches, not indexed searches. I'm looking for ways to improve the general flexibility/usability of context, or some other compatible search engine. Any suggestins????

TIA
Ed Jennings
Database Engineer
DOMAIN technologies, inc.

jenningse_at_mindspring.com Received on Wed Jul 08 1998 - 20:47:38 CDT