searchWords()

Transforms strings into a search-optimised format ideal for database queries.

Table of contents

1. Signature
2. Parameters
3. Returns
4. Description
   1. Performance
5. Examples
   1. Basic Usage
   2. Email Addresses
   3. Accented Text
   4. Names with Prefixes
   5. Null Handling
6. Use Cases
   1. Database Search Column
   2. Full-Text Search Preparation
   3. Data Import Normalisation
7. Transformations Applied
8. Related Methods

---

Signature

public static function searchWords(?string $words): ?string

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
$words	?string	The input string to optimise for search. Can be null.

Returns

?string - The search-optimised string, or null if input was null.

---

Description

The searchWords() method transforms text into a format optimised for database searching. It performs multiple transformations in a single pass:

1. Name fixing - Applies naming conventions (Mc/Mac prefixes)
2. Lowercase conversion - For case-insensitive matching
3. Special character replacement - Converts punctuation and symbols to spaces
4. Accent removal - Strips diacritics for normalised matching
5. Space normalisation - Reduces multiple spaces to single space

Performance

• ~195,000 operations per second
• O(n) single-pass algorithm
• Combined character mapping for efficiency

---

Examples

Basic Usage

use MarjovanLier\StringManipulation\StringManipulation;

$result = StringManipulation::searchWords('Hello_World');
echo $result; // Output: hello world

Email Addresses

StringManipulation::searchWords('John_Doe@Example.com');
// Output: john doe example com

Accented Text

StringManipulation::searchWords('Cafe Munchen');
// Output: cafe munchen

Names with Prefixes

StringManipulation::searchWords('McDonald van der Berg');
// Output: mcdonald van der berg

Null Handling

$result = StringManipulation::searchWords(null);
// Result: null

---

Use Cases

Database Search Column

Store a search-optimised version alongside the original:

class User
{
    public string $lastName;
    public string $lastNameSearch;

    public function setLastName(string $name): void
    {
        $this->lastName = $name;
        $this->lastNameSearch = StringManipulation::searchWords($name);
    }
}

// Usage
$user->setLastName("O'Brien-McDonald");
// $user->lastName = "O'Brien-McDonald"
// $user->lastNameSearch = "o brien mcdonald"

// Query: WHERE last_name_search LIKE '%brien%'

Full-Text Search Preparation

function prepareForSearch(string $query): string
{
    $optimised = StringManipulation::searchWords($query);

    // Split into individual terms
    $terms = explode(' ', $optimised);

    // Filter empty terms
    return implode(' ', array_filter($terms));
}

$searchQuery = prepareForSearch("Cafe & Restaurant - Munchen");
// Result: cafe restaurant munchen

Data Import Normalisation

function normaliseImportedData(array $records): array
{
    return array_map(function ($record) {
        return [
            'name' => $record['name'],
            'name_searchable' => StringManipulation::searchWords($record['name']),
            'address' => $record['address'],
            'address_searchable' => StringManipulation::searchWords($record['address']),
        ];
    }, $records);
}

---

Transformations Applied

Input	Output	Transformation
Hello_World	hello world	Underscore to space, lowercase
test@example.com	test example com	Special chars to space
Cafe	cafe	Accent removal, lowercase
McDonald	mcdonald	Name fixing, lowercase
"Hello, World!"	hello world	Punctuation removal

---

Related Methods

• nameFix() - Name standardisation only
• removeAccents() - Accent removal only