Re: MySQL REGEXP functionality... any way to make this easier?

Hi, unfortunately i can't help you much, but listen you can make your pattern more readable if you delete "[]" there's no need for classes in your pattern SELECT * FROM ospd WHERE word REGEXP '^a?p?e?$|^a?e?p?$|^p?e?a?$|^p?a?e?$|^e?a?p?$|^e?p?a?$'; ? = one or none but if you need each letter then omit "?" SELECT * FROM ospd WHERE word REGEXP '^ape$|^aep$|^pea$|^pae$|^eap$|^epa$'; this is the simplest way but it also matches aae, aaa, ppe, ppp ... and probably not what you need SELECT * FROM ospd WHERE word REGEXP '^[aep]{3}$'; I thnk you don't have another choice then to write each combination by yourself greet martin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Xepherys" <xepherys@xepherys.net> To: <php-db@lists.php.net> Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 8:26 AM Subject: [PHP-DB] MySQL REGEXP functionality... any way to make this easier? > Right now, a sample query I might have would be... > > SELECT * FROM ospd WHERE word REGEXP '^([a]?[p]?[e]?)$|^[p]?[a]?[e]?$|^[a > ]?[e]?[p]?$|^[p]?[e]?[a]?$|^[e]?[p]?[a]?$|^[e]?[a]?[p]?$'; > > > where basically I need to query every combination of a, p and e. This is a > pain, but for only three letter is not so bad. As you can see, this could > become unruly with larger numbers of letters. Each instance of a letter can > only occur once. However, a letter may be duplicated and used once for each > instance. Hence the statement steps through... it could also be something > like... > > SELECT * FROM ospd WHERE word REGEXP > '^[a]?[a]?[e]?$|^[a]?[e]?[a]?$||^[e]?[a]?[a]?$'; > > more easily written because one letter is used twice and can occure once for > each instance. Please let me know if you have any ideas. > > > Jesse > jesse.williams@xepherys.net > > > -- > PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > >