How to structure some data in a MySQL database for easier retrieval?

You can use FIND_IN_SET to structure some data in a database for easier retrieval. Let us first create a table −

mysql> create table DemoTable
(
   CountryName SET('US','UK','AUS')
);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.49 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command −

mysql> insert into DemoTable values('US');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable values('UK');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.09 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement −

mysql> select *from DemoTable;

This will produce the following output −

+-------------+
| CountryName |
+-------------+
| US          |
| UK          |
+-------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Following is the query to fetch a value −

mysql> select *from DemoTable where find_in_set('UK',CountryName) > 0;

This will produce the following output −

+-------------+
| CountryName |
+-------------+
| UK          |
+-------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)