[SOLVED] PHP Search Engine

[H]

Hello, I am trying to make a website which has a search engine what can answer poeples questions, the only problem is they have to type the question exactly eg. 'what is vb' (shows the answer) 'what's vb' (does not show the answer). Is there any way I can make it search for the keywords so 'what' and 'vb' would show the answer without editing my code completely.

 

HERES MY CODE!

 

<p><font color="#999999"><span style="font-size: 15pt">Question Asked<br>
</span></font><font size="2">
<?php
$question = addslashes($_POST['question']);
echo $question;
?>
</font></p>
<p><font color="#999999"><span style="font-size: 15pt">Answer<br>
</span></font><font size="2">
<?php
$host = 'localhost';
$user = '?';
$pass = '?';
$db = '?';
$connect = mysql_pconnect($host, $user, $pass);
$selectdb = mysql_select_db($db);

mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass);
mysql_select_db($db);
$SQLq = "SELECT * FROM `search` WHERE `question` LIKE '$question'";
$sql = mysql_query($SQLq)or die(mysql_error()); 
$fetch = mysql_fetch_array($sql);
$answer = $fetch['answer'];
if($answer == ""){
echo 'Sorry, I dont know the answer to that one.';
} else {
echo $answer;
}
?> 
</font></p>

 

NOTE: THE USERNAMES ETC HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE CODE

[MadTechie]

maybe use

 

explode & implode

 

$search = "what is vb";
$parts = implode(" ", $search);
$search= explode(" or ", $parts);
echo $search;

 

your need to clean this up but its a start

[H]

I might try that, can the preg_match function be used with arrays

[MadTechie]

if you look at my last post, a few tweak and you should beable to get it working..

 

basically you final SQL query should be something like this

 

$SQLq = "SELECT * FROM `search` WHERE
`question` LIKE '%what%' AND 
`question` LIKE '%is%' AND 
`question` LIKE '%vb%' 
";

 

so you need to alter the basic script i wrote from

what OR is OR vb

to

`question` LIKE '%what%' AND `question` LIKE '%is%' AND `question` LIKE '%vb%'

[MadTechie]

hint:

start = "`question` LIKE '%"

middle = "%' AND `question` LIKE '%"

end = "%'"

 

[H]

But it wont find it because the field in the mysql database is called question which has the 'what is vb' question in and php can only find it if it is the full string not just words from the string

[MadTechie]

No..

"SELECT * FROM `search` WHERE `question` = 'what'

will only find record(s) which ONLY have 'what' in the question field

 

if you do

"SELECT * FROM `search` WHERE `question` LIKE '%what%'

it will find all that have 'what' anywhere in the field question..

 

heres the code i would use

 

<?php
$search = "what is vb";
$SQLq = "SELECT * FROM `search` WHERE ";

$parts= explode(" ", $search);
$start = "`question` LIKE '%";
$middle = "%' AND `question` LIKE '%";
$end = "%'";
$search = $start.implode($middle, $parts).$end;

echo $SQLq.$search;

$SQLq = $SQLq.$search;
?>

 

NOTE it needs cleaning up (ie search on 0/1 word) will fail

[H]

Actully sorry, thats wrong what I said before. Please can you give me a little help, this is my first time using these functions (implode, explode)

[MadTechie]

see last post

 

basically have 90% done

[H]

Can you put that in my code (above) I would appreciate it very much

[MadTechie]

just a quick one (on the phone so kinda hard to do)

 

<p><font color="#999999"><span style="font-size: 15pt">Question Asked<br>
</span></font><font size="2">
<?php
$question = addslashes($_POST['question']);
echo $question;
?>
</font></p>
<p><font color="#999999"><span style="font-size: 15pt">Answer<br>
</span></font><font size="2">
<?php
$host = 'localhost';
$user = '?';
$pass = '?';
$db = '?';
$connect = mysql_pconnect($host, $user, $pass);
$selectdb = mysql_select_db($db);

mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass);
mysql_select_db($db);

$SQLq = "SELECT * FROM `search` WHERE ";

$parts= explode(" ", $question);
$start = "`question` LIKE '%";
$middle = "%' AND `question` LIKE '%";
$end = "%'";
$search = $start.implode($middle, $parts).$end;

echo $SQLq.$search;

$SQLq = $SQLq.$search;

//$SQLq = "SELECT * FROM `search` WHERE `question` LIKE '$question'";

$sql = mysql_query($SQLq)or die(mysql_error()); 
$fetch = mysql_fetch_array($sql);
$answer = $fetch['answer'];
if($answer == ""){
echo 'Sorry, I dont know the answer to that one.';
} else {
echo $answer;
}
?> 
</font></p>

[H]

still wont show the correct answer if whats vb is typed in, try it www.ictdoc.com/temp

[H]

Fixed it, thanks for the help

[MadTechie]

Well done also said its 90% done but

 

NOTE it needs cleaning up (ie search on 0/1 word) will fail