Re: Retrieving partial field values

[Jigal van Hemert]

> Example a (GivenNames): Mary Elizabeth or Marg Elizabeth
> Example b (GivenNames): J. W. or I. W.
> Example c (Surname): Stotts, Statts or Stutts
>
> I need to be able to retrieve the following based upon the examples:
>
> For Example a:
> Return Mary Elizabeth where GivenNames begins with M;
> Return Marg Elizabeth where GivenNames begins with M;
> Return Mary Elizabeth where GivenNames contains the whole word Mary;
> Return Marg Elizabeth where GivenNames contains the whole word Marg;
> Return Mary Elizabeth where GivenNames=Mary Elizabeth
> Return Marg Elizabeth where GivenNames=Marg Elizabeth

I'm beginning to think that a form of FULL TEXT search is what you need;
take a look at these articles:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/Fulltext_Search.html
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/Fulltext_Boolean.html
and even query expansion might be usefull in your case (though it might be a
bit slow):
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/Fulltext_Query_Expansion.html

Regards, Jigal.