Querying Full-Text Data in Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Exam objectives in this chapter:

• Work with Data

  • Query data by using SELECT statements.

• Modify Data

  • Work with functions.

It is hard to imagine searching for something on the web without modern search engines like Bing or Google. However, most contemporary applications still limit users to exact searches only. For end users, even the standard SQL LIKE operator is not powerful enough for approximate searches. In addition, many documents are stored in modern databases; end users would probably like to have powerful search capabilities inside document contents as well.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 enhances the full-text search support that was substantially available in previous editions. This chapter explains how to use full-text search and even semantic search inside a SQL Server database.

Lessons in this chapter:

• Lesson 1: Creating Full-Text Catalogs and Indexes

• Lesson 2: Using the CONTAINS and FREETEXT Predicates

• Lesson 3: Using the Full-Text and Semantic Search Table-Valued Functions

Before You Begin

To complete the lessons in this chapter, you must have:

• An understanding of relational database concepts.

• Experience working with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

• Some experience writing T-SQL code.

• Access to a SQL Server 2012 instance with the sample database TSQL2012 installed.

• Full-Text Search installed on your SQL Server instance.