What are the potential pitfalls of using OR versus AND in a MySQL query when searching for multiple terms in PHP?

Using OR in a MySQL query when searching for multiple terms can return a larger result set than intended, as it will retrieve rows that match any of the specified conditions. This can lead to inaccurate or irrelevant results. To ensure that all specified terms are matched in the query, it is better to use AND instead of OR. 

// Example of using AND in a MySQL query to search for multiple terms
$search_terms = ['term1', 'term2', 'term3'];

$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE ";
foreach($search_terms as $term){
    $query .= "column_name LIKE '%$term%' AND ";
}
$query = rtrim($query, " AND ");

// Execute the query and fetch results

Keywords

MySQL query OR AND PHP

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