Improving django search

Question

I have the following search:

titles = Title.objects.filter(title__icontains=search)

If this is a search to find:

Thomas: Splish, Splash, Splosh

I can type in something like "Thomas" or "Thomas: Splish, Splash, Splosh" and it will work.

However, if I type in something like "Thomas Splash", it will not work. How would I improve the search to do something like that (also note that if we split on words, the comma and other non-alphanumerics should be ignored -- for example, the split words should not be "Thomas:", "Splish," but rather "Thomas", "Splish", etc.

Al W · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-26 21:02:57Z

1

This kind of search is starting to push the boundaries of django and the ORM. Once it gets to this level of complexity I always switch over to a system that is built entirely for search. I dig lucene, so I usually go for ElasticSearch or Solr

Keep in mind that full text searching is a subsystem all unto itself, but can really add a lot of value to your site.

answered Apr 26, 2013 at 21:02

Al W

7,7611 gold badge21 silver badges41 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

fsw · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-26 21:06:00Z

1

As Django models are using database queries there is not much magic you can do.

You could split your search by non-alphanumeric chars and search objects containing all words but this will not be smart and efficient.

If you want something really smart maybe you should check out haystack:

http://haystacksearch.org/

answered Apr 26, 2013 at 21:06

fsw

3,7253 gold badges23 silver badges35 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Improving django search

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related