Search wildcard multiple columns in Rails using one param - mysql

Question

Using Rails 3.2. I have the following table:
name address
=======================================
Hilton Hotel New York, USA
Hilton Hotel Paris, France
Mandarin Hotel Chicago, USA
Le Meridien Hotel New York, USA
and the following query:
term = "%#{params[:term]}%"
shops = Shop.limit(10).where("name LIKE ? OR address like ?", term, term)
My expected result is this:
Search - "Hilton"
Result - "Hilton Hotel, New York, USA"; "Hilton Hotel, Paris, France"
Search - "Hilton USA"
Result - "Hilton Hotel, New York, USA"
Search - "New York"
Result - "Hilton Hotel, New York, USA"; "Le Meridien Hotel, New York, USA"
How should I rewrite my query?
Thanks.

Answer 1

You could use MySQL's MATCH AGAINST. There's no direct support in Rails, but you can always roll your own custom query in Rails using
YourModel.find_by_sql("SELECT ... WHERE MATCH(...) AGAINST(...)")
or a bit more Rails style (have not tested this):
YourModel.where("MATCH(...) AGAINST(...)")
For more information, have a look here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/fulltext-boolean.html
EDIT:
I'd split the input string by space, comma, dot, etc. and then use MATCH AGAINST to get all results. So if you have this table:
col1 | col2
-----------
row1: a c | a
row2: a d | b e
row3: b e | a d
row4: b | b c
And the user types a as input. You should do
MATCH(col1, col2) AGAINST ('a')
This will return:
row1: 'a c', 'a'
row2: 'a d', 'b e'
row3: 'b e', 'a d'

Answer 2

I use another workaround for this.
I create another column for_autocomplete and concatenate the name and address into it. Every time a record is created/updated, it will create/update for_autocomplete accordingly. Then I just search through the for_autocomplete column.