Sort search results based on substring position in MySQL

To sort search results based on substring position, use ORDER BY LOCATE(). Let us first create a table −

mysql> create table DemoTable1838
     (
     Subject varchar(100)
     );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command −

mysql> insert into DemoTable1838 values('MongoDB MySQL');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1838 values('MySQL Java');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into DemoTable1838 values('JavaWithMySQL');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement −

mysql> select * from DemoTable1838;

This will produce the following output −

+---------------+
| Subject       |
+---------------+
| MongoDB MySQL |
| MySQL Java    |
| JavaWithMySQL |
+---------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Here is the query to sort search results based on substring position:

mysql> select * from DemoTable1838
     where Subject LIKE '%MySQL%'
     ORDER BY LOCATE('MySQL', Subject);

This will produce the following output −

+---------------+
| Subject       |
+---------------+
| MySQL Java    |
| MongoDB MySQL |
| JavaWithMySQL |
+---------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)