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SQL Full Text search containg hyphen "-"
Posted on 2004-08-28
I am searching a database that contains descriptions of various millitary and commercial models. I use full text indexing with the contains statement for almost all of these searches. I need to be able to seach for planes like a B-17, F105, C-5, etc. What I have learned is the FT search ignores the "-" hyphen. It also then ignores the letter preceding the hyphen. Which then leaves me searching for 17, 105, 5. The first two return more results than I want, since lots of other items contain 17 or 105. But the last is a problem since 5 by itself will also be ignored. Is there a way to work around this? Can I somehow force or trick the FT index into searching for the the full word including the hyphen?
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10 Comments
I suspect there is a misuderstanding as to how Full-Text Search really works. Post the row that contains "B-17" and I can give you more details.
Also, please indicate the language you are using. In other words, I am interested to find out the noise.* file used.
I'me working in English. I have been able to work around it by using FIELD LIKE "%B-17%" instead of the CONTAINS statement. The Full Text index will ignore the hyphen by design.
>>FIELD LIKE "%B-17%" <<
If performance is not an issue, that that should be fine. Just remember that using LIKE will probably force a sequential search.
>>The Full Text index will ignore the hyphen by design.<<
I am sorry that is not the way it works. Do yourself a favor
1. Add a row with B-17 in it.
2. Do a full-population and allow it to complete
3. When it has finished, do a search using: WHERE CONTAINS(*, 'B-17')
What is happening is that you have something like "AB-17" and expect Full-Text search to find that row with "B-17". That is not going to happen.
If performance is not an issue, that that should be fine. Just remember that using LIKE will probably force a sequential search.
>>The Full Text index will ignore the hyphen by design.<<
I am sorry that is not the way it works. Do yourself a favor
1. Add a row with B-17 in it.
2. Do a full-population and allow it to complete
3. When it has finished, do a search using: WHERE CONTAINS(*, 'B-17')
What is happening is that you have something like "AB-17" and expect Full-Text search to find that row with "B-17". That is not going to happen.
This is the knowledge base article that deals with hyphens;
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;200043
Unless I'm missing something, this is exactly how the hyphens behave in my environment.
This is an example of the row;
B-17 G ‘Chow-hound’ -- This diecast Historically Accurate plane comes fully painted with pad-printing (no decals), and its own stand. Also included is Historical Information unique to this plane.
CONTAINS(*,'B-17') will return this row as well as any row with a '17' in it.
DESCRIPTION LIKE '%B-17%' returns only the rows I want.
There is a performance concern so I would really like to stick with Full Text if there is a way to make it work.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;200043
Unless I'm missing something, this is exactly how the hyphens behave in my environment.
This is an example of the row;
B-17 G ‘Chow-hound’ -- This diecast Historically Accurate plane comes fully painted with pad-printing (no decals), and its own stand. Also included is Historical Information unique to this plane.
CONTAINS(*,'B-17') will return this row as well as any row with a '17' in it.
DESCRIPTION LIKE '%B-17%' returns only the rows I want.
There is a performance concern so I would really like to stick with Full Text if there is a way to make it work.
I see what you are getting at. Unfortunately, I cannot duplicate the problem :)
Here is what I did.
1. Created a table:
CREATE TABLE Table1 (
ID int IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL,
Description text NULL)
2. Created a unique index on ID.
3. Added one row with the value:
B-17 G ‘Chow-hound’ -- This diecast Historically Accurate plane comes fully painted with pad-printing (no decals), and its own stand. Also included is Historical Information unique to this plane.
4. Added (Defined and did a Full Population) a full-text search on the Description column
5. Created a query with:
select * from table1 where CONTAINS(*, 'b-17')
And it returned that row.
Thinking there might be a problem with Prefix searches (as the article suggested) tried changing to CONTAINS(*, '"b-1*"'), the row was still returned. I even tried: CONTAINS(*, '"pad-print*"'). Same result.
So, I would suggest you try the same.
Here is what I did.
1. Created a table:
CREATE TABLE Table1 (
ID int IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL,
Description text NULL)
2. Created a unique index on ID.
3. Added one row with the value:
B-17 G ‘Chow-hound’ -- This diecast Historically Accurate plane comes fully painted with pad-printing (no decals), and its own stand. Also included is Historical Information unique to this plane.
4. Added (Defined and did a Full Population) a full-text search on the Description column
5. Created a query with:
select * from table1 where CONTAINS(*, 'b-17')
And it returned that row.
Thinking there might be a problem with Prefix searches (as the article suggested) tried changing to CONTAINS(*, '"b-1*"'), the row was still returned. I even tried: CONTAINS(*, '"pad-print*"'). Same result.
So, I would suggest you try the same.
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