Summary

In this chapter:

• We learned how to check whether Sphinx was installed properly or not. We saw the directory structure Sphinx creates to store its binary files, configuration files, and other data.

• We then learned what full-text search is and what its advantages over normal search are. We also saw how full-text search has been implemented in MySQL with an example. We saw the syntax of an SQL query used to search a full-text indexed field in MySQL.

• We have also seen why to use Sphinx, an external search engine, instead of database's native full-text support. We saw how Sphinx excels in many ways, and outperforms most of the databases and external search engines available today.

• Lastly we saw how to create an index using the indexer utility, and then how to search that index from the command line as well as other applications using client API implementations.

Having armed ourselves with all the basics we need to know, we are ready to start creating indexes with more options available to...