Prioritize MySQL SELECT/LIKE result in Repository - php

Question

I want to create a query that values more precise search terms, e.g. search for "Essen" should return Essen currently it returns Evessen as this is a valid value as well.
My current function:
public function findCities($city){
$qb = $this->createQueryBuilder('z');
$qb
->select('z')
->where($qb->expr()->like('z.city', ':city'))
->orderBy('z.code')
->setParameter('city', '%'.$city . '%');
return $qb->getQuery()->getResult();
}
Based on THIS advice I created a repository function:
public function findCities($city){
$qb = $this->createQueryBuilder('z');
$qb
->select('z')
->where($qb->expr()->like('z.city', ':city'))
->orderBy('INSTR(z.city, '.$city.'), z.city')
->setParameter('city', '%'.$city . '%');
return $qb->getQuery()->getResult();
}
Unfortunately it returns [Syntax Error] line 0, col 70: Error: Expected known function, got 'INSTR'
Any other approach (that does NOT return an array, as there is a function that needs heavy altering if the output is an array, I'd like to avoid that) maybe?

Answer 1

There is no INSTR function in DQL, that's why you get this error see docs
instead you can make NativeQuery see docs
something like this
$rsm = new \Doctrine\ORM\Query\ResultSetMapping();
$rsm->addEntityResult('City', 'c');
// for every selected field you should do this
$rsm->addFieldResult('c', 'id', 'id');
$rsm->addFieldResult('c', 'name', 'name');
$em = $this->getEntityManager()
->createNativeQuery('
SELECT
id, name
FROM cities WHERE city LIKE '%:city%'
ORDER BY INSTR(city, ':city'), city',
$rsm
)->setParameter('city', $city);
return $em->getResult();