PHP Query for Multiple Database Tables

[spartan84821]

I've been trying to figure this out for hours, but it seems so simple--that's why I'm so frustrated. I have three tables (newsarticles, sportsarticles, opinionarticles) with identical structures in a database and a search query on my website that, at this point, can search through only the "newsarticles" table. The code for the working search of the "newsarticles" table is shows below:

SELECT * FROM newsarticles WHERE newsarticles.text LIKE %s  OR newsarticles.title LIKE %s OR newsarticles.author LIKE %s

I want to be able to use the search query to return a single recordset of results that includes results from all three tables. Some possible solutions I have found are the "JOIN" and "UNION" SQL commands. I am not sure if either will work, or if either is correct to use in this case. Does anyone have any ideas?

[MarkoKlacar]

Hi,

I'm guessing that you want to serach the tables that have a certain keyword stored in them, am I right?

In that case you need to look at the "JOIN" or "UNOIN" a bit more.

I think you'll merge your tables by selecting something from every table if they have a matching keyword or criteria.

Hope I wasn't to far off.

Cheers