Rank mysql search results by coulmn weighting

what do you mean by column weighting?

If you want to choose a preference you just do

SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY column_1, column_2 DESC

changing column_1 etc to whatever field you want to order by. You can order by more then one and you can do descending(DESC) or ascending(ASC) order

Hi Tommy,
I have several columns in my table 'plan'.
they are ability, noofstudents etc...every column has been weighted according to theirimportance/relevance in planning.
for example: ability: 075
motivation: 0.25
it is not an article search. it is a record search from a table.

thanks in advance.

please try to ellaborate more on column weighting i cant really understand the exact meaning of the word.

just do

ORDER BY weight_filter DESC

where weight_filter is the name of the column with that number in

please try to ellaborate more on column weighting i cant really understand the exact meaning of the word.

Tq..
What I intend to do is..
1. Instead of just list the search result..the percentage of how similar /match the keyword and the record will be displayed..

2. this percentage is based on how important those elements/column..say ability:1, motivation:0.75.

If it is not clear..I will explain in more detail..
MAny thanks