Hi, thanks for your response. I don't see how the LIKE command would help me pull records that matched the category name or its parent category if none exist, or its parent category if none exists. Perhaps you could provide a example. I want something that follows this logic ...
SELECT * FROM table WHERE category = 'Sports:Football:Players' OR IF NONE category = 'Sports:Football' OR IF NONE category = 'Sports' Regarding the purpose of this query, it will be performed in every page/category in a web site directory looking to see if an advertisement is available for the current category, if not, it needs to look for one assigned to the parent category, so on and so on until it reaches the top level category for which there will always be an ad. Any suggestions/examples appreciated! John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "John Kelly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 7:09 PM Subject: Re: Need help with a query ... > You need to use the LIKE command I think. The MySQL manual should give you > all the details. If you need further help I can just write the whole query > out for you. Or was the problem that you only want to worry about the > if..then stuff if needed? If so could you tell what your pulling back from > that table? > > "The principal mark of genius is not perfection but originality, the > opening of new frontiers." > -- Arthur Koestler > > *^*^*^* > Michael McGlothlin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > http://mlug.missouri.edu/~mogmios/projects/ > > On Fri, 2 Nov 2001, John Kelly wrote: > > > Hi, I have a MySQL table with a column that contains some of a web site > > directory's category names in the format: > > > > Sports:Football:Players > > > > I am trying to build a query that that locates all records that match the > > above category name OR if none exist its parent "Sports:Football" OR if none > > exist its parent "Sports". The top level category, in this case "Sports", > > will always have at least one matching record. > > > > I know I can do this with multiple queries by checking the previous query's > > result, but I am trying to build a query that does it all in one lookup to > > avoid lots of lookups in deep categories. Something along the logical lines > > of ... > > > > SELECT * FROM table WHERE category = 'Sports:Football:Players' OR IF NONE > > category = 'Sports:Football' OR IF NONE category = 'Sports' > > > > ... of course the above query does not work but if anyone knows of how to > > accomplish something similar in one query I would much appreciate it. > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Before posting, please check: > > http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) > > http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) > > > > To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
