Search %like% in a table from multiple columns

[Zephni]

Hi guys, having a problem with a search query, I have a customer base, and want to search through by forename and surname using one search query, or every line of address. I want somthing similar to this:

 

SELECT * FROM customers WHERE client_id='$_SESSION[client_id]' AND (col1, col2, col3) LIKE '%$search_term%

 

This works great if I replace (col1, col2, col3) with one column name like 'forename'. So what is the most simplistic method to do what i'm trying to do?

 

Thanks in advance!

[DarkKnight2011]

you would have to do something like

 

SELECT * FROM customers WHERE client_id='$_SESSION[client_id]' AND (col1 like '%search_term%'  OR col2 like '%search_term%' OR col3 like '%search_term%') 

[Zephni]

Thanks mate that worked well! But what if i wanted the user to be able to type either;

 

'Craig' or 'Dennis' or 'Craig Dennis'

 

Is there a way to do:

 

(forename LIKE '%$search_term%'  OR surname LIKE '%$search_term%') OR (forname AND surname LIKE '%$search_term%')

 

Dyu see what I mean? I know thats not the correct syntax, but is there a way to say forename and surname together and test against them.

[Zephni]

I have sorted it but in a round about way, I have split the $search term up into seperate values using the PHP function explode() using " " (a space) as a delimmiter, so now i have $search_arr[0] as the first word and $search_arr[1] as the second. Then I used this query:

 

SELECT * FROM customers WHERE (client_id='$_SESSION[client_id]') AND ((forename LIKE '%$search_term%' OR surname LIKE '%$search_term%') OR (forename LIKE '%$search_arr[0]%' AND surname LIKE '%$search_arr[1]%'))

 

woah

 

But if anyone else knows a better way please let me know =)