MySQL - Using LIKE ? With Multiple Columns Search - mysql

Question

I've had a look around Stackoverflow and can't seem to find what I am looking for.
I have a dynamically updating AJAX search form which shows location data from database.
The issue I am having is with this query here:
$sql = "SELECT location FROM location_data WHERE location LIKE ? LIMIT 10";
Let me explain what is happening first. There are 3 different columns in a database table, one called location, one called CRS and one called tiploc.
I would like to display results like the following:
Select location FROM location_data WHERE location(textbox) is LIKE ?(what the person typed in) OR CRS is LIKE ? or TIPLOC is LIKE ?
Now i've only tried it with CRS so far, and ive done the following query:
$sql = "SELECT location FROM location_data WHERE location OR CRS LIKE ? LIMIT 10";
The above only displays the CRS result (exact match) and doesn't provide any suggestions for location, only shows CRS. Does anyone know how I can amend my query, so that it searches both location and CRS and TIPLOC, LIKE on location, but exact match only on CRS and TIPLOC?
if(isset($_REQUEST['term'])){
// Prepare a select statement
$sql = "SELECT location FROM location_data WHERE location LIKE ? LIMIT 10";
if($stmt = mysqli_prepare($link, $sql)){
// Bind variables to the prepared statement as parameters
mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, "s", $param_term);
// Set parameters
$param_term = $_REQUEST['term'] . '%';
// Attempt to execute the prepared statement
if(mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt)){
$result = mysqli_stmt_get_result($stmt);
// Check number of rows in the result set
if(mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0){
// Fetch result rows as an associative array
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC)){
echo "<p>" . $row["location"] . "</p>";
}
} else{
echo "<p>No matches found</p>";
}
} else{
echo "ERROR: Could not able to execute $sql. " . mysqli_error($link);
}
}
// Close statement
mysqli_stmt_close($stmt);
}
// close connection
mysqli_close($link);
Now heres the on page search, the field I am pulling input from is called "location".
--Code for JS AJAX Search--
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$('.search-box input[type="text"]').on("keyup input", function(){
/* Get input value on change */
$(".result").show();
var inputVal = $(this).val();
var resultDropdown = $(this).siblings(".result");
if(inputVal.length >2){
$.get("backend-search.php", {term: inputVal}).done(function(data){
// Display the returned data in browser
resultDropdown.html(data);
});
} else{
resultDropdown.empty();
}
});
// Set search input value on click of result item
$(document).on("click", ".result p", function(){
$(this).parents(".search-box").find('input[type="text"]').val($(this).text());
$(this).parent(".result").empty();
});
});
$(document).click(function(){
$(".result").hide();
});
</script>

Answer 1

You need to repeat the LIKE expression for each column.
$sql = "SELECT location
FROM location_data
WHERE location LIKE ? OR CRS LIKE ? OR TIPLOC LIKE ?
LIMIT 10";
And since there are now 3 placeholders in the query, you need to fill them all in with the binding:
mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, "sss", $param_term, $param_term, $param_term);

Answer 2

For every individual expression in OR, you have to specify their comparison conditions. Note the location LIKE ? instead of LOCATION OR:
$sql = "SELECT location
FROM location_data
WHERE location LIKE ?
OR CRS LIKE ?
OR TIPLOC LIKE ?
LIMIT 10";
Note: LIMIT clause without ORDER BY is non-deterministic in nature, since MySQL stores an unordered dataset. It basically means that, any 10 rows can be returned by MySQL (if not using ORDER BY).