PHP/MySQL - include plurals but exclude singulars

Question

I am building a site with a requirement to include plural words but exclude singlular words, as well as include longer phrases but exclude shorter phrases found within it.

Answer 1

With MySQL you can use REGEXP instead of like which would give you better control over your query...

SELECT * FROM table WHERE field REGEXP '\s+read\s+'

That would at least enforce word boundaries around your query and gives you much better control over your matching - with the downside of a performance hit though.