Just where do you get those values from? My guess is you don't just make them up, and the user didn't enter them manually, so probably they're coming from somewhere in the database. So probably you can get the whole list using a reasonably simple query.

If at all possible, why not use a subquery, like:

SELECT *
FROM my_table
WHERE 
   col_1 IN (select id from something) AND
   col_2 IN (select id from something_else)
[download]

where something and something_else represent the query you used to get at that list.

If it's not that simple, at worst you can first create temporary table with the values you're looking for in one column.

p.s. It's possible that using an inner join, even on a subselect, is faster. Just test it.

SELECT *
FROM my_table
INNER JOIN (select col_1 from something) A USING (col_1)
INNER JOIN (select col_2 from something_else) B USING (col_2)
[download]

(n.b. "USING(col1,col2)" is like "ON A.col_1=B.col_1 AND A.col_2 = B.col_2" except the "*" will pick up the column name(s) only once.)

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.