SQLIte statement using an array inside instr() and IN - php

Question

I am having issues structuring a sqlite statement. I am familiar with instr() and IN however is it possible to use them together? I have an array of multiple substrings that I would like to see if a column contains any of them.
Here is an example of what I am trying to accomplish with no luck
$array = array('-SVA[rev1]', '-KINGS[rev2]', '-TBS[rev3]');
$query2 = $db->query("SELECT * FROM BOT_Downloads WHERE instr( FileName, IN ('$array') ) AND SeriesTitle = 'The Simple Truth' ");
I know using LIKE '% %' instead of instr() would be another way however that one is over my head as well when combining it with IN

Answer 1

Your logic needs to be completely revised; IN is a SQL statement to determine if the contents of the parameter on the left of the IN statement is equal to any of the literal comma separated values in the statement's parenthesis, and is not a valid parameter for the INSTR function. You should be getting errors from SQLite when you try to execute that statement.
Your current code should produce a SQL query that looks like:
SELECT *
FROM BOT_Downloads
WHERE instr( FileName, IN ('-SVA[rev1],-KINGS[rev2],-TBS[rev3]') )
AND SeriesTitle = 'The Simple Truth';
I guarantee that is not what you want. You want to build a statement that looks more like this:
SELECT *
FROM BOT_Downloads
WHERE (
instr( FileName, '-SVA[rev1]') or
instr( FileName, '-KINGS[rev2]') or
instr( FileName, '-TBS[rev3]'))
AND SeriesTitle = 'The Simple Truth’;
As an aside the PHP array function is not going to surround array elements with single quotes, so your code will build a statement that looks like:
SELECT *
FROM BOT_Downloads
WHERE instr( FileName, IN ('-SVA[rev1],-KINGS[rev2],-TBS[rev3]'))
AND SeriesTitle = 'The Simple Truth’;
where you were probably shooting for something that looked more like this:
SELECT *
FROM BOT_Downloads
WHERE instr( FileName, IN ('-SVA[rev1]','-KINGS[rev2]','-TBS[rev3]'))
AND SeriesTitle = 'The Simple Truth’;
However as the IN clause is not a valid parameter to the Instr function then either way is wrong. The IN clause requires each string literal to have delimiters, otherwise it’s just going be an equality operator looking for the one string contained within the parenthesis. The PHP array method does not include those delimiters by default.
Continuation:
In continuation of my previous answer, I used the following SQL to create and populate a test table:
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `BOT_Downloads` (
`FileName` TEXT,
`SeriesTitle` TEXT,
`Note` TEXT
);
INSERT INTO `BOT_Downloads` (FileName,SeriesTitle,Note) VALUES ('File-SVA[rev1].txt','The Simple Truth','matches filename and series title'),
('File-KINGS[rev2].txt','The Simple Truth','matches filename and series title'),
('File-TBS[rev3].txt','The Simple Truth','matches filename and series title'),
('File-WTH[rev1].txt','The Simple Truth','matches series title, doesn’t match filename'),
('File-KINGS[rev1].txt','The Simple Truth','matches series title, doesn’t match filename'),
('File-SVA[rev1].txt','War and Peace','matches filename, doesn’t match series title'),
('File-KINGS[rev2].txt','War and Peace','matches filename, doesn’t match series title'),
('File-TBS[rev3].txt','War and Peace','matches filename, doesn’t match series title'),
('File-WTH[rev1].txt','War and Peace','No matches'),
('File-KINGS[rev1].txt','War and Peace','No matches');
COMMIT;
I then ran the following query:
SELECT *
FROM BOT_Downloads
WHERE (
instr( FileName, '-SVA[rev1]') or
instr( FileName, '-KINGS[rev2]') or
instr( FileName, '-TBS[rev3]'))
AND SeriesTitle = 'The Simple Truth’;
and got results of the nature you’re asking for:
"File-SVA[rev1].txt" "The Simple Truth" "matches filename and series title"
"File-KINGS[rev2].txt" "The Simple Truth" "matches filename and series title"
"File-TBS[rev3].txt" "The Simple Truth" "matches filename and series title"
The logic you are pursuing, using PHP to create an array and then expanding that into a SQL statement will not work if the elements of the array are strings because PHP will not automatically add the required string delimiters to the array element; this is why you have to manually include the single tick marks in your query in the IN statement. This would work with integers but is a bad approach IMO. Since you are not putting string delimiters around each individual string element you’re testing for, it appears to the SQL engine that you are seeking all rows where the file name contains the literal string ‘-SVA[rev1],-KINGS[rev2],-TBS[rev3]’ which is not what you are seeking, and this is why you are getting no results even though there are no syntax errors.

Answer 2

If you can concatenate the array items to this:
'-SVA[rev1],-KINGS[rev2],-TBS[rev3]'
then:
SELECT * FROM BOT_Downloads
WHERE
',' || '-SVA[rev1],-KINGS[rev2],-TBS[rev3]' || ',' LIKE '%,' || FileName || ',%'
AND
SeriesTitle = 'The Simple Truth'