> Not necessarily. I do precisely this for a data base whose structure I do > not control. I stuff > > |code1|code2|code3| ... > > Into an unused text field. The users can query on LIKE "%|code2|%. The key > is to have a delimiter at the start and end of the entire list, so that the > string match doesn't get confused. > > Of course, this would probably be painfully slow. I can't say whether or not > it would be slower than the other alternatives.
It is slow, because it cannot use an index. All in all, bad design IMO, cause you _know_ it's slow beforehand. Martijn Tonies Database Workbench - development tool for MySQL, and more! Upscene Productions http://www.upscene.com My thoughts: http://blog.upscene.com/martijn/ Database development questions? Check the forum! http://www.databasedevelopmentforum.com -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
