Chapter 6. Full-text Parser Plugins

Traditionally, SQL only supported searches for values (stored in columns and rows of tables), but not searches within values, unless we count LIKE, that lacks expressive power. Still, often users need an ability to search within values (within text documents, that is), so called full-text search.

In 2000, with the version 3.23.23, MySQL introduced a full-text search capability and a new index type called FULLTEXT to support it. Full-text indexes contain individual words from the TEXT, CHAR, or VARCHAR columns, and they can be used by the MATCH … AGAINST() syntax.

Full-text parser is a component of the full-text search that breaks the value of the TEXT, CHAR, or VARCHAR column into words that will go into the full-text index. It is also used by MATCH … AGAINST() to split a query string into words and, optionally, recognize Boolean full-text search operators.

Full-text plugins can replace this component or modify its behavior. For example, they can extract...