tags in mysql + php

Question

Is there a common way of dealing with tags in databases?

I'm thinking of using tinytext with pipes. I think adding another table and using IDs might make it more complicated for little gain.

What's your preferred way of doing this?

and what is the right way of doing queries in a table to find results matching multiple or single tags?

Thanks

Answer 1

Implement a simple N:N relations.

Items:
-id
-name
-title
-foo
-bar

ItemTagRelations:
-Fkey itemId
-Fkey tagId

Tags:
-id
-name
-etc