RE: [PHP] better functionality in query ?

> I'm in process of creating a online whitepages directory for > a small town phone company and I am having a little difficulty > in refining my selection. My search form has two fields; last > and first name. I would like to be able to have more of a wild > card approach and some refinement when a user enters both a > first and last name. I am unsure how to go about this, should > I restructure my query, or make changes to my PHP. here is the > query I am currently using. and the site is located at > http://whitepages.maadtelco.com/ any assistance/direction is > certainly > appreciated. > > <snip> > $query = "select * from whitepages WHERE last_name LIKE '$last_name' ORDER > BY last_name" or die("Nothing to see here"); > </snip> $query = "SELECT * FROM whitepages WHERE last_name LIKE '%$last_name%' ORDER BY last_name" or die("Nothing to see here"); Question, why are you 'die'ing on a variable assigntment? Wouldn't you want to 'die' on the actualy db_query()? Note the added '%', this is assuming you are using MySQL, though they are generally the same, I believe, with other DB's. The % is essentially wildcard of any amount. So, if the last_name was BOB it would find BOBBY BOBBER ADOBOB $query = "SELECT * FROM whitepages WHERE last_name LIKE '%$last_name%' $andor first_name LIKE '%$first_name' ORDER BY last_name" or die("Nothing to see here"); In this query, we are including the First Name. In this, we are also using the $andor variable, which you can define as AND, or OR, or allow the user to define it by using a radio box or the like when making the search. I suggest setting a default of OR for the variable $andor. Jason Lotito www.NewbieNetwork.net Where those who can, teach; and those who can, learn.