使用LIKE将字符串与包含多个单词的字符串进行匹配

Question

In mysql, I have a WHERE clause that uses LIKE to match a keyword to a string.

WHERE title LIKE CONCAT('%',?,'%')

This almost works, but I running into a problem where titles with multiple words are returning erroneous matches. For example, the keyword "press" would be matched to the title "depression sucks" - which should not happen.

What is the best way to ensure that the keyword matches only if it is at the start of a word?

Thanks (in advance) for your help

Answer 1

Word boundary markers [[:<:]], [[:>:]] are your friend.

mysql> SELECT 'a word a' REGEXP '[[:<:]]word[[:>:]]';   -> 1
mysql> SELECT 'a xword a' REGEXP '[[:<:]]word[[:>:]]';  -> 0