How Can I Search Database Records for a Keyword While Ignoring HTML Tags?

Removing HTML Tags from Database Records

In the realm of database management, extracting information from text fields can be challenging, especially when HTML tags clutter the content. This query highlights a scenario where table rows contain HTML markup and the task is to retrieve records based on a specific keyword, excluding those with tags surrounding the keyword.

The provided query, SELECT * from table WHERE colmn_name LIKE '%mytext%', correctly identifies rows containing the keyword "mytext." However, it falls short by including rows where "mytext" is part of an HTML tag, such as .

To rectify this issue, a more refined approach is required. The solution involves utilizing a custom MySQL function, fnStripTags.

The fnStripTags function works by iteratively identifying HTML tags within the input string and removing them while preserving the rest of the content. The Locate function is used to find the starting and ending positions of tags, and the Insert function replaces the tagged portions with empty strings.

With the fnStripTags function in place, the query can be modified to:

SELECT * from table WHERE fnStripTags(colmn_name) LIKE '%mytext%'

This query effectively eliminates HTML tags from the content, allowing for accurate keyword-based searching. The fnStripTags function ensures that the keyword is only found in the actual text, not within HTML tags.

By employing this custom function, it is possible to precisely extract records that meet the desired criteria, even when HTML tags are present in the text data.

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