How to Make a search function using Node Express and MYSQL

Last Updated : 24 Apr, 2025

In this article, we will learn how to create a search function using Node with Express framework to search terms inside MYSQL tables.

Prerequisites:

We will discuss the following methods to search:

Table of Content

Approach to make search function:

We're making a web application using Express.js and connecting it to a MySQL database. When users visit the '/search' route and provide a search term as a parameter, the app looks for that term in the database. If there's an error, we log it and send a 500 error. If not, we send back the search results in JSON format. We're using Node.js with Express for all this.

Steps to Create a Express application:

Step 1: Initialize npm (node package manager) using the following command

npm init

Step 2: Install mysql2 package using the following npm install command.

 npm install mysql2

Step 3: Create a new JavaScript file with .js extension (Example: app.js ) and write the code.

Step 4: For testing, create a new database and sample records using the following SQL query. Run the query in the MySQL workspace.

sql-query-sample-data — insert sample data

Project Structure:

The updated dependencies in package.json file will look like:

"dependencies": {
    "express": "^4.18.2",
    "mysql2": "^3.6.5",
}

Step 5: Run the application using following command:

node app.js

Step 6: Navigate to 'http://localhost:3000/search' and pass search term in the query using '?term= <search term>' .

Example: http://localhost:3000/search?term=geeksforgeeks

Note:

Important Note:
Replace host, user, password and database with your actual values.
Example:
const db = mysql.createConnection({
  host: 'localhost',
  user: 'root',
  password: 'root',
  database: 'mydatabase',
});

Approach 1: Searching term with partial match:

It performs a partial match on 'name' column using LIKE and % wildcard in SQL query. Search the term with partial match in 'name' column using the following query. The LIKE operator with search term surrounded by % allows for a partial match ( const searchValue = `%${searchTerm}%`; ).

Replace it with following SQL query:

const query = `
   SELECT * FROM items
   WHERE name LIKE ?
`;

Example: Below is the code example of Searching term with partial match:

JavaScript

const express = require('express'); const mysql = require('mysql2');  const app = express(); const port = 3000;  // MySQL connection const db =     mysql.createConnection({         host: 'localhost',         user: 'root',         password: 'root',         database: 'mydatabase',     });  // Connect to MySQL db.connect(err => {     if (err) {         console.error('Error connecting to MySQL:', err);     } else {         console.log('Connected to MySQL');     } });  // Search endpoint app.get('/search', (req, res) => {     const searchTerm = req.query.term;     if (!searchTerm) {         return res.status(400)             .json(                 {                     error: 'Search term is required'                 }             );     }      const query = `     SELECT * FROM items     WHERE name LIKE ?   `;      // Use '%' to perform a partial match     const searchValue = `%${searchTerm}%`;      db.query(query, [searchValue, searchValue],         (err, results) => {             if (err) {                 console                     .error('Error executing search query:', err);                 return res.status(500)                     .json(                         {                             error: 'Internal server error'                         });             }              res.json(results);         }); });  // Start the server app.listen(port, () => {     console.log(`Server is running on          http://localhost:${port}`); });

Output:

approach-1 — match partially in 'name' column

Approach 2: Searching term with exact matching

Search the term with exact match in 'name' column using the following query. The = operator finds the exact match only.

Replace it with following SQL query:

const query = `
   SELECT * FROM items
   WHERE name = ?
`;

Example: Below is the code example of Searching term with exact matching

JavaScript

const express = require('express'); const mysql = require('mysql2');  const app = express(); const port = 3000;  // MySQL connection const db = mysql.createConnection({     host: 'localhost',     user: 'root',     password: 'root',     database: 'mydatabase', });  // Connect to MySQL db.connect(err => {     if (err) {         console.error('Error connecting to MySQL:', err);     } else {         console.log('Connected to MySQL');     } });  // Search endpoint app.get('/search', (req, res) => {     const searchTerm = req.query.term;      if (!searchTerm) {         return res.status(400)             .json(                 {                     error: 'Search term is required'                 });     }      const query = `     SELECT * FROM items     WHERE name = ?    `;      const searchValue = searchTerm;      db.query(query,         [searchValue,             searchValue],         (err, results) => {             if (err) {                 console.error('Error executing search query:', err);                 return res.status(500)                     .json(                         {                             error: 'Internal server error'                         });             }              res.json(results);         }); });  // Start the server app.listen(port, () => {     console.log(`Server is running          on http://localhost:${port}`); });

Output:

approach-2 — match exact term in 'name' column

Approach 3: Searching term in multiple columns

It performs a partial match on both 'name' and 'description' columns using the % wildcard. Search the term with partial match in both 'name' and 'description' column using the following query. The LIKE operator with search term surrounded by % allows for a partial match ( const searchValue = `%${searchTerm}%`; ).

Replace it with following SQL query:

const query = 
    `SELECT * 
     FROM items  
     WHERE name LIKE ? OR description LIKE ?  `;

Example: Below is the code example of Searching term in multiple columns

JavaScript

const express = require("express"); const mysql = require("mysql2");  const app = express(); const port = 3000;  // MySQL connection const db = mysql.createConnection({     host: "localhost",     user: "root",     password: "root",     database: "mydatabase", });  // Connect to MySQL db.connect((err) => {     if (err) {         console.error("Error connecting to MySQL:", err);     } else {         console.log("Connected to MySQL");     } });  // Search endpoint app.get("/search", (req, res) => {     const searchTerm = req.query.term;      if (!searchTerm) {         return res.status(400).json({ error: "Search term is required" });     }      const query = `   SELECT * FROM items   WHERE name LIKE ? OR description LIKE ?   `;      //Use '%' to perform a partial match     const searchValue = `%${searchTerm}%`;      //const searchValue = searchTerm;      db.query(query, [searchValue, searchValue], (err, results) => {         if (err) {             console.error("Error executing search query:", err);             return res.status(500).json({ error: "Internal server error" });         }          res.json(results);     }); });  // Start the server app.listen(port, () => {     console.log(`Server is running on http://localhost:${port}`); });