Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

III.9.2. Finding Information with Full-Text Search

The full-text search capability allows you to add significant functionality when searching text-type data. Without enabling full-text search, you can use the LIKE clause in SELECT statements. However, LIKE limits searches to only exact pattern matches. Full-text searches allow you to do much more. For example, you can search for

• One or more words (simple term): Both single words and entire phrases can be searched. For example, both duck and ducks in a pond can be searched. Even Duck, the roller coaster is going through the tunnel can be searched.

• Inflectional forms of words (generation term): Inflectional forms of words include different tenses of a verb and singular and plural forms of a noun. For example, a search on ride would also search riding and rode; a search on mouse would also search mice.

• Synonyms (thesaurus): The same as a thesaurus, this search returns similar words. For example, a search on fun would return matches for amusing, enjoyable, entertaining, pleasurable, and cool. SQL Server 2008 includes a thesaurus file in XML format.

• Words or phrases that are close to each other (proximity term): For example, you might want to search for beauty products that include skin near firming in the description. You wouldn't necessarily want a description that states at the beginning, "Don't let this product touch your skin," and at the end of the description states, "the firming agent takes about 3 hours to fully set."

• Words or ...