How to find the column values present in a given sentence? mysql - php

Question

Consider the following mysql table
id name
----- ------
1 Mark
2 Mike
3 Paul
4 John
And consider the input sentence
Mark and Paul are very good friends since 2000.
Expected output
Mark , Paul
I want to find the names present in the input sentence.
Does mysql provides any options to find this. Or any ideas?

Answer 1

This can be achieved two way. Using 'IN' and 'REGEX' operator of mysql.
By using 'IN' Operator
<?php
$string = "Mark and Paul are very good friends since 2000.";
$sql_in = "'".implode("','",explode(" ",$string))."'";
//Will return all the records for which name match with any word in given sentence.
$mysql_query = "select * from table_name where name in($sql_in)";
?>
By using 'REGEX'
<?php
$string = "Mark and Paul are very good friends since 2000.";
$regex_string = str_replace(' ','|',$string);
//Will return all the records for which name match with any word in given sentence.
$mysql_query = "select * from table_name where name REGEX '^(".$regex_string.")'";
?>

Answer 2

I don't know that mysql have some options for that. But you can split the string and search for the names.
$sentence = "Mark and Paul are very good friends since 2000."
//some code to get all names from the database
//simulation mysql-output as array
$names = array("Mark", "Mike", "Paul", "John");
//first split the String into a array what contains all words of the sentences
$array = explode(" ", $sentence);
//now you can check if any words in the array eqauls a name in your database
//create a foreach loop to check all words
foreach($array as $word) {
//search if the word contains in the array
if(in_array($word, $names)) {
//this word is a searched name
print_r("Word ".$word." is a name!\n");
}
else {
//this word isn't a name
}
}
In the If/Else you can code a custum handler. Notice if the sentence ends with a dot that the last word have at the last char a dot(.). You can check it and remove the dot with the substr function.
I don't test the code.

Answer 3

Try stored procedure. I have tested this query for random paragraph and get following execution time with three option
CREATE PROCEDURE FindInDB
#INSTR varchar(255)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE #SEPERATOR as VARCHAR(1)
DECLARE #SP INT
DECLARE #VALUE VARCHAR(1000)
SET #SEPERATOR = ' '
-- Create Temporary table add all words in it
CREATE TABLE #tempTab (name varchar(50) not null)
WHILE PATINDEX('%' + #SEPERATOR + '%', #INSTR ) <> 0
BEGIN
SELECT #SP = PATINDEX('%' + #SEPERATOR + '%',#INSTR)
SELECT #VALUE = LEFT(#INSTR , #SP - 1)
SELECT #INSTR = STUFF(#INSTR, 1, #SP, '')
INSERT INTO #tempTab (name) VALUES (#VALUE)
END
-- Total execution time 15 0 7.5000
--SELECT [Name]
--FROM [tblName]
--where Name IN (SELECT name FROM #tempTab)
--Total execution time 15 15 0 10.0000
--SELECT distinct [tblName].[Name]
--FROM [tblName]
--inner join #tempTab on #tempTab.name = tblName.Name;
--Total execution time 15 15 15 15 0 12.0000
SELECT [Name]
FROM [tblName]
where EXISTS (SELECT name FROM #tempTab
where #tempTab.name = tblName.Name )
DROP TABLE #tempTab
END
GO