How can wildcards be effectively used in PHP to improve search functionality in an Access database?

To improve search functionality in an Access database using wildcards in PHP, you can use the "LIKE" operator along with '%' wildcard characters. This allows you to search for partial matches within your database records, making your search more flexible and powerful.

$search_term = $_POST['search_term'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE '%$search_term%'";
$result = odbc_exec($connection, $query);

while($row = odbc_fetch_array($result)) {
    // Display search results
}