{"id": "full_text_search:configuring-fts-by-hand", "page": "full_text_search", "ref": "configuring-fts-by-hand", "title": "Configuring FTS by hand", "content": "We recommend using  sqlite-utils , but if you want to hand-roll a SQLite full-text search table you can do so using the following SQL. \n                 To enable full-text search for a table called  items  that works against the  name  and  description  columns, you would run this SQL to create a new  items_fts  FTS virtual table: \n                 CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE \"items_fts\" USING FTS4 (\n    name,\n    description,\n    content=\"items\"\n); \n                 This creates a set of tables to power full-text search against  items . The new  items_fts  table will be detected by Datasette as the  fts_table  for the  items  table. \n                 Creating the table is not enough: you also need to populate it with a copy of the data that you wish to make searchable. You can do that using the following SQL: \n                 INSERT INTO \"items_fts\" (rowid, name, description)\n    SELECT rowid, name, description FROM items; \n                 If your table has columns that are foreign key references to other tables you can include that data in your full-text search index using a join. Imagine the  items  table has a foreign key column called  category_id  which refers to a  categories  table - you could create a full-text search table like this: \n                 CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE \"items_fts\" USING FTS4 (\n    name,\n    description,\n    category_name,\n    content=\"items\"\n); \n                 And then populate it like this: \n                 INSERT INTO \"items_fts\" (rowid, name, description, category_name)\n    SELECT items.rowid,\n    items.name,\n    items.description,\n    categories.name\n    FROM items JOIN categories ON items.category_id=categories.id; \n                 You can use this technique to populate the full-text search index from any combination of tables and joins that makes sense for your project.", "breadcrumbs": "[\"Full-text search\", \"Enabling full-text search for a SQLite table\"]", "references": "[{\"href\": \"https://sqlite-utils.datasette.io/\", \"label\": \"sqlite-utils\"}]"}