NC 08: Text search across titles

Track: No-code sandbox (sandbox.altfndata.com) Prerequisite: NC_07.

The task

Find lots by searching free text inside item_title, useful when you know a keyword, model nickname, or material but not the exact designer or model field value.

Starter steps

  1. Open the SQL editor.
  2. Paste and run this query, which uses a case-insensitive substring match on item_title:
SELECT designer, model, item_title, sale_date, usd_price_decimal, status, vendor
FROM all_watches_data
WHERE LOWER(item_title) LIKE '%chronograph%'
ORDER BY sale_date DESC
LIMIT 30;
  1. Swap the keyword for something more specific, for example '%tourbillon%' or a model nickname, and re-run.
  2. Try the same pattern against all_handbags_data with a material or style keyword, for example '%crocodile%', to confirm the same LIKE pattern works across tables.
  3. Combine the text filter with a designer filter from NC_03 to narrow results further, for example WHERE designer = 'Rolex' AND LOWER(item_title) LIKE '%chronograph%'.

Expected result

A result grid of lots whose item_title contains the keyword anywhere in the string, regardless of case. Broad keywords (like a common watch complication) return many rows across many designers and vendors; narrower keywords (a specific nickname or rare material) return a small, focused set. Combining a text filter with a designer filter reduces the row count further than either filter alone.

Stretch challenge

Search item_title for two different keywords describing the same underlying feature (for example a complication name and its common abbreviation), and compare row counts, to see how vendor-to-vendor variation in title wording affects what a single keyword search captures.