MySQL - Is it possible to use LIKE on all columns in a table?

mysql where sql-like
user2566387 picture user2566387 · Aug 24, 2013 · Viewed 29.2k times · Source

I'm trying to make a simple search bar that searches through my database for certain words. It is possible to use the LIKE attribute without using WHERE? I want it to search all columns for the keywords, not just one. Currently I have this:

mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shoutbox WHERE name LIKE '%$search%' ")

Which obviously only searches for names with the search input. I tried both of these:

mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shoutbox LIKE '%$search%' ")
mysql_query("SELECT * FROM shoutbox WHERE * LIKE '%$search%' ")

and neither worked. Is this something that is possible or is there another way to go about it?

Answer

JJJ picture JJJ · Aug 24, 2013

There's no shortcut. You need to specify each column separately.

SELECT * FROM shoutbox 
    WHERE name LIKE '%$search%' 
        OR foo LIKE '%$search%' 
        OR bar LIKE '%$search%'  
        OR baz LIKE '%$search%'

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