--- title: Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER | daily.dev description: Discussion about "Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER" on daily.dev - join the developer community canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/mini-search-engine-by-sqlserver-tsll1oach twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER | daily.dev og:description: Discussion about "Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER" on daily.dev - join the developer community og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/mini-search-engine-by-sqlserver-tsll1oach og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/tSlL1oach.png og:image:alt: Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER **[.Net Community](https://daily.dev/sources/csharpdev)** · [@ferouzkassim](https://daily.dev/ferouzkassim) · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Content # Beyond `LIKE '%keyword%'`: Unlocking Full-Text Search in EF Core If you’ve built search in SQL before, chances are you’ve relied on `LIKE '%contains%'`. It works, but it’s rigid. What if your search engine could understand **intent and context**? If a user searches for **"women"**, shouldn't your application also surface results for **"girls"** or **"ladies"**? With **Full-Text Search (FTS)** enabled on your database, you instantly gain semantic search capabilities without needing to set up a massive external search cluster. ## How EF Core Leverages Full-Text Search EF Core gives us built-in functions to hook directly into database full-text capabilities: - `EF.Functions.FreeText()`: Performs a semantic search where the database matches meaning and word variations (stemming/synonyms) rather than strict string equality. - `EF.Functions.Contains()`: Upgrades standard string matching to leverage full-text indexes for fast, full-text boolean queries. ## EF Core 11 vs. EF Core 10 Support - **EF Core 11**: Full-Text Search configuration is supported **out of the box** using Data Annotations (`[FullTextIndex]`) or the Fluent API. - **EF Core 10 & Earlier**: While the LINQ functions work, configuring full-text indexes via migrations usually requires custom SQL raw migrations (`migrationBuilder.Sql(...)`) or interceptors as a workaround. Have you enabled Full-Text Search in your EF Core projects, or do you reach straight for Elasticsearch / Typesense? Let's discuss in the comments!  --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/mini-search-engine-by-sqlserver-tsll1oach) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/mini-search-engine-by-sqlserver-tsll1oach","headline":"Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER","text":"Discussion about \"Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER\" on daily.dev - join the developer community","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/mini-search-engine-by-sqlserver-tsll1oach","datePublished":"2026-10-01T22:31:14.427Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T22:31:14.427Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"ferouz kassim kassim","url":"https://daily.dev/ferouzkassim","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocItJ5iUrcA92iX8uFQ4Rx6OJvhbj_UN-wE9erpXuQEumS1V9rqC=s96-c","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":180}},"interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/csharpdev","name":".Net Community"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":".Net Community","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/csharpdev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Mini Search engine by SQLSERVER"}]} ```