👀 Views: 334 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-12

mysql fulltext-search special-characters sql

I'm currently working with MySQL 8.0 and I've run into problems using FULLTEXT indexes for search functionality in my application... I have a table called `articles` with a `title` column where I want to allow users to search for articles using specific keywords. The scenario arises when I try to search for terms that include special characters like `&` and `#`. For example, when I execute the following query: ```sql SELECT * FROM articles WHERE MATCH(title) AGAINST('MySQL & database' IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE); ``` I expect to find articles that include both 'MySQL' and 'database', but it seems the search does not return any results when the keyword contains special characters. I've verified that my FULLTEXT index is set up correctly and that the articles have the keywords I'm searching for. Here’s how I created the index: ```sql ALTER TABLE articles ADD FULLTEXT(title); ``` Additionally, I've checked the `ft_min_word_len` and `ft_max_word_len` settings, which are set to 3 and 84 respectively, accommodating my keyword lengths. However, I'm still not able to get matches when special characters are included. I've tried several variations of the search query, including replacing special characters with spaces or omitting them entirely. For instance, the query below returns results, but obviously, it loses specificity: ```sql SELECT * FROM articles WHERE MATCH(title) AGAINST('MySQL database' IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE); ``` Could this be an scenario with the stemming process or how MySQL handles special characters in FULLTEXT searches? Is there a workaround for including special characters in my searches? Any insights would be appreciated! Any feedback is welcome!