Search query for multiple search terms - php

Question

I'm running Laravel 5 and have built a small search function:
$q = Input::get('q');
$search_terms = explode(' ', $q);
$user_query = User::select();
$news_query = Article::select();
foreach ($search_terms as $term) {
$user_query->where('username', 'like', '%' . $term . '%');
$news_query->where('title', 'like', '%' . $term . '%');
}
$user_results = $user_query->get();
$news_results = $news_query->get();
return view('search', ['q' => $q, 'user_results' => $user_results, 'news_results' => $news_results]);
It works for one search term, but doesn't quite work with multiple words.
Example:
"boss" returns users and news items that contain "boss"
"boss man" returns users and news items that contain "boss"
"man boss" returns users and news items that contain "man"
How can I make adjustments so it will return users and news items that contain "boss" or "man" ?

Answer 1

Right now, your query is executed using and statements, so MySQL is looking for usernames consisting of both boss and man.
You can change to orWhere() and it should work right away. Here's a quick experiment I did in Tinker using your code:
$terms = explode(' ', 'c a');
$user_query = User::select();
foreach ($terms as $term) {
$user_query->orWhere('username', 'like', '%' . $term . '%');
}
$user_results = $user_query->get();
$user_results->toArray();
// array(
// 0 => array(
// 'id' => 2,
// 'username' => 'christopher',
// 'created_at' => '2014-04-27 18:41:56',
// 'updated_at' => '2014-11-07 13:42:58',
// 'remember_token' => NULL
// ),
// 1 => array(
// 'id' => 4,
// 'username' => 'Kalle',
// 'created_at' => '2014-11-07 13:42:55',
// 'updated_at' => '2014-11-07 13:42:55',
// 'remember_token' => NULL
// )
// )