Need to search for words with similar meaning

Question

HI,
I want to search for words which are similar in meaning,
for example, search with the keyword LIME should give LIME , LEMON etc.
Can it be done using the inbuilt thesaurus?

Answer 1

I don't know how similar the example that you provided is to your actual problem.  Synonyms are not the only relations that you can set.  You an also use related terms and hierarchies using broader and narrower terms.  In the following example, I have created citrus as a broader term and created lemon, lime, and orange as narrower terms underneath citrus.  I have them demonstrated how you can query to return all items from the same category that lemon is in, by first finding the broader term citrus above it, then searching for all narrower terms underneath that.  I have included some intermediary results that you don't need to run, just for better understanding of how the query is formed.
SCOTT@orcl12c> create table test_tab
  2    (test_col  varchar2(60))
  3  /
Table created.
SCOTT@orcl12c> insert all
  2  into test_tab values ('lemon')
  3  into test_tab values ('lime')
  4  into test_tab values ('orange')
  5  into test_tab values ('toaster oven')
  6  select * from dual
  7  /
4 rows created.
SCOTT@orcl12c> create index test_tab_idx on test_tab (test_col) indextype is ctxsys.context
  2  /
Index created.
SCOTT@orcl12c> begin
  2    ctx_thes.create_thesaurus ('test_thes');
  3    ctx_thes.create_relation ('test_thes', 'lemon', 'bt', 'citrus');
  4    ctx_thes.create_relation ('test_thes', 'lime', 'bt', 'citrus');
  5    ctx_thes.create_relation ('test_thes', 'orange', 'bt', 'citrus');
  6  end;
  7  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SCOTT@orcl12c> variable g_search varchar2(100)
SCOTT@orcl12c> exec :g_search := 'lemon'
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SCOTT@orcl12c> select ctx_thes.bt (:g_search, 1, 'test_thes') from dual
  2  /
CTX_THES.BT(:G_SEARCH,1,'TEST_THES')
{LEMON}|{CITRUS}
1 row selected.
SCOTT@orcl12c> select 'nt(' ||
  2            replace (ctx_thes.bt (:g_search, 1, 'test_thes'), '|', ', 1, test_thes)|nt(')
  3            || ', 1, test_thes)'
  4  from  dual
  5  /
'NT('||REPLACE(CTX_THES.BT(:G_SEARCH,1,'TEST_THES'),'|',',1,TEST_THES)|NT(')||',
nt({LEMON}, 1, test_thes)|nt({CITRUS}, 1, test_thes)
1 row selected.
SCOTT@orcl12c> select * from test_tab
  2  where  contains
  3            (test_col,
  4            'nt(' ||
  5            replace (ctx_thes.bt (:g_search, 1, 'test_thes'), '|', ', 1, test_thes)|nt(')
  6            || ', 1, test_thes)') > 0
  7  /
TEST_COL
lemon
lime
orange
3 rows selected.