Find text with select in 2 columns mySQL/PHP - php

Question

I am making an autocomplete form and requesting names from my database. This is the table in my database
user_id | firstname | lastname
I can get the data for a "searchterm" using this
$query = "SELECT user_id, firstname, lastname FROM users WHERE firstname like :searchterm ";
But I want to expand it so I could also search both firstname and lastname at the same time, for example, to search for "John D...". I think there is a way to join the two columns and then make a search. Can someone explain it?. I am just starting with this mysql thing.

Answer 1

When you've got spaces in your search term, you'll often need to split the string into sections before you put it into your query. Use AND if you want to match all inputted search terms, or OR if you want to match any. Example:
Search: john james smith
<?php
$search = "john james smith";
$bits = explode(" ", $search);
foreach($bits as $key => $bit) {
$bits[$key] = '(`field1` LIKE "' . $bit . '" AND `field2` LIKE "' . $bit . '")';
}
$sql = implode(' OR ', $bits);
// (`field1` LIKE "john" AND `field2` LIKE "john") OR (`field1` LIKE "james" AND `field2` LIKE "james") OR (`field1` LIKE "smith" AND `field2` LIKE "smith")
?>
Demo: https://eval.in/66808
Looks like you're using PDO (which is good), so you'll just need to put your binding parameters into that string instead, then concatenate it on at the end of your current SQL query into the WHERE clause.