MYSQL search in comma deliminated field.

Tony G. — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:33:53 +0000

It seems it is not possible to combine the MySQL IN command with a field name, even when that field contains comma delimited values. MySQL may match the first value, but not any of those following the comma.

SELECT name FROM pet_owners WHERE 'FIDO' IN (pet_owners.pets)

The above code doesn’t work, I suspect because

... IN (pet_owners.pets) ...

is treated not as

... IN ('FLUFFY' , 'FIDO' , 'SPOT') ...

but as

... IN ('FLUFFY,FIDO,SPOT') ...

THE SOLUTION

One method is to use Regular Expresisons:

SELECT name FROM pet_owners WHERE pet_owners.pets REGEXP '[[:<:]]FIDO[[:>:]]'

Another way would be to use the FIND IN SET command:

SELECT name FROM pet_owners WHERE FIND IN SET ('FIDO', pet_owners.pets) > 0

The pet_owners.pets field does not have to be set to datatype SET as long as it has comman separated values.

Ashevile Web Design and Computer Networking :: Applied Solutions Group » find in set

MYSQL search in comma deliminated field.