在Rails中编写搜索功能的惯用方式是什么？

Question

I have a search algorithm for my Rails app that works right now, but I really don't think this is how it should be done. Essentially, I do something of the following nature:

def search
    users = User.all
    //Implement search algorithm on the users array
end

I really feel like this shouldn't be how I should be doing it. I feel like I'm supposed to be using SQL or the ActiveRecord methods to get exactly the rows I need, but when the search gets pretty intensive I feel like that would be a very tough SQL command to write. What's the idiomatic way of writing a search algorithm for searching for specific things in the database? For example, names. What if I wanted to search for names and inputted ire . I'd want Irene to show up before desiree , but both have that substring. Just an example.

Answer 1

I usually elastic when I need real search, like the stemming for 'Irene' you mention:

https://github.com/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-ruby

For smaller needs, you can use the full text search capabilities in postgres, with a gem like this one I have used:

https://github.com/textacular/textacular