> Is there is a way to search only for the alphanumeric content of > field in a db? I have an itemID field that contains item #'s that include > dashes, forward slashes, etc, and I want people to be able to search for an > item # even if they don't enter the punctuation exactly. Not sure if there's anything specifically PHP-ish that will help you here, but I would be inclined to start by storing a stripped-down version of the item ID (alphanumeric characters only) in a separate column in the database table. Then, when a user enters some search data, I would remove non-alphanumeric characters, if any, from the user's input, and then search the stripped column with this normalized version of the input. If you want even fuzzier matching (inadvertent transpositions or an omitted character or two OK, for example), you might read about Levenshtein distance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levenshtein_distance PHP has a levenshtein function but you'll have to figure out a way to use it efficiently with your data set. Or, if Levenshtein isn't quite right for your needs, the article above might at least point you in a useful direction. Ben -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
