Greetings andrew,

I think what you're wanting is to use LIKE's wild-card character.

$sth = $dbh->prepare(q{
  SELECT * FROM items
  WHERE description LIKE ?
  OR longdescription LIKE ?
});
$sth->execute('%' . $search . '%', '%' . $search . '%') or die $dbh->e
+rrstr;
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Notes: Placeholders are your friend. (a.k.a. bind values) Always use them.

gryphon
code('Perl') || die;