Need to fetch rows from MySQL - mysql

Question

I have records in one of the column of MySQL DB like :
ID Tax
1 GST + PST + ABC
2 PST + GST + ABC
3 XYZ
4 PST + ABC + GST
These are stored as varchar in DB. Through my code I need to fetch records from DB that matches condition like tax = "GST + PST + ABC"
Currently I am getting only first record due to query:
Select * from table where taxes = "GST + PST + ABC";
But I want to fetch all records from DB in which above 3 names ( GST, PST, ABC) will occur irrespective of their positions.
So, I need records if I apply above condition:
GST + PST + ABC
PST + GST + ABC
PST + ABC + GST
I am using MySQL DB, please let me know is there any function through which I can achieve above results based on my condition

Answer 1

I would suggest something like this:
where taxes like '%GST%' and
taxes like '%PST%' and
taxes like '%ABC%' and
length(taxes) = 15;
This tests the length if you want exactly those three codes. You can also test the number of +:
where taxes like '%+%+%' and taxes not like '%+%+%+%'
Or if you want those codes and no others, then leave those conditions out.
This assumes that the names are non-overlapping (so there is no tax called "GS" or "ST"). If that is possibility:
where concat(' ', taxes, ' ') like '% GST %' and
concat(' ', taxes, ' ') like '% PST %' and
concat(' ', taxes, ' ') like '% ABC %';

Answer 2

You can use OR
SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE TAXES = "GST + PST + ABC"
OR TAXES = "GST + ABC + PST"
OR TAXES = "PST + GST + ABC"
OR TAXES = "PST + ABC + GST"
OR TAXES = "ABC + GST + PST"
OR TAXES = "ABC + PST + ABC"
It's a pretty small list of things it could be, so I don't see a reason to get tricky with dynamically making complex SQL.
If data could be in other formats and you want to match like: "GST + ABC + PST + ZZZ" then we could do some work using LIKE AND %

Answer 3

I would use
WHERE NAME REGEXP "GST"
AND NAME REGEXP "PST"
AND NAME REGEXP "ABC"
Having said that, this sounds like a case where your data model isn't normalized enough. That is, you should be storing each tax-type in a separate row which will make MySQL operations a lot easier(just like in this case). It's not a good practice to store data in the form you have. I would attempt to store it this way:
ID ID-sub TAX
-- ------ ---
1 1 GST
1 2 PST
1 3 ABC
2 1 PST
2 2 GST
ID-sub may not be needed at all.