hello,
the default word length in mysql full text search is 4.
I would like to reduce it to 3
I have searched some sites over the internet and read that I have to edit the my.cnf file in "/etc" folder

I have checked the files in that folder and there is no such file.
so I have created a file called my.cnf and placed this code in it.

[mysqld]
ft_min_word_len=3

then, I have deleted the old index and created the index again.

Now when I search again for 3 character words, it is not displaying results with those words.

Please inform me if I have done any mistake and tell me how to correct it.

I have contacted my hosting providers to locate the my.cnf file and they said, they can't change the file.

So, I am helpless

Please inform me what I have to do
Thank you.
__________________

What is your operating system?
Do you use and special package such as LAMPP?

For example if you use LAMPP on linux then my.cnf is located in /opt/lampp/etc/
Try to search that file. On linux try "find -name my.cnf"

the operating system is linux.
I dont know anything about LAMPP etc.

I have requested my hosting providers ( hostmonster ) to find out the my.cnf file. but they said that they cant modify that file.

I doubt if that file can be modified by individual users rather than the hosting providers.

If I can modify that, I dont understand how to search for that file.

any help?

Ok, seem like you are using a shared hosting. If so then sorry, you really can't modify it, it's out of your reach.
You have to use VPS or dedicated host to be able to fully control your servers. The price is more expensive, of course.

Hello yellow1912,
you are right.
I am using shared hosting.
and now, I donot have the resources to go for a dedicated hosting.

is there any other way to this problem?
thank you for the information

Write your own search routine.

Hello chrishirst,
Thank you for your reply.
I have already implemented a code to search for 3 character words.
And I thought it will be very good if mysql could search for them using the full text index.

Mysql full text index makes things easy when compared to my own search routine.
Thank you.

Originally Posted by crush123

Hello yellow1912,
you are right.
I am using shared hosting.
and now, I donot have the resources to go for a dedicated hosting.

is there any other way to this problem?
thank you for the information

You say that you don't have resources for dedicated hosting, but what about a VPS - or does your statement include both?

If you don't want to code your way out of the problem, a VPS may be your solution?

The full text search of MySQL is powerful and works well up to maybe 50,000 records. If your database will be less than that then it should do just fine. But you need your own server to change the minimum word length.

I have an application that has over 4 million records and I gave up on full text. Instead I created tables of all the unique words and then did my own matching. Probably 1,000 times faster than full text search. Also, creating the tables took a few days but now search is lightning fast