Implementing Efficient Search Result Deduplication with PHP and Xunsearch

Using PHP and Xunsearch for Search Result Deduplication

Search functionality is a critical component of modern web applications. Especially for content platforms or article management systems, a precise and clean search experience significantly impacts user satisfaction. Duplicate results in search responses often disrupt this experience, making deduplication an essential feature.

Xunsearch is a powerful open-source full-text search engine that supports multiple languages and is highly suitable for PHP integration, offering strong filtering and sorting capabilities.

Environment Setup and Configuration

First, ensure that Xunsearch is correctly installed and configured on your server. You can follow the official documentation for setup instructions.

Once installed, you can use PHP SDK to interact with the Xunsearch engine.

Building a Front-End Search Form

Users interact with a form to input keywords, triggering the search logic. Here's a simple HTML form example:

<form action="search.php" method="GET">
    <input type="text" name="keyword" placeholder="Enter keyword">
    <input type="submit" value="Search">
</form>

PHP Logic for Search and Deduplication

The core of the search logic involves initializing the search object, accepting keyword input, and using facet features for deduplication.

require_once '/path/to/xunsearch/sdk/php/lib/XS.php';

$xs = new XS('index'); // Replace with your actual index name
$search = $xs->search;

$keyword = $_GET['keyword'];
$search->setQuery($keyword);
$search->setLimit(10);

// Enable facet statistics
$search->setFacets(array("id")); 

$result = $search->search();
$docs = $result->docs;

$articleIds = array();
foreach ($docs as $doc) {
    $articleIds[] = $doc->id;
}

// Filter out duplicate article IDs
$filteredResults = array();
foreach ($docs as $doc) {
    if (!in_array($doc->id, $articleIds)) {
        $filteredResults[] = $doc;
    }
}

// Display deduplicated search results
foreach ($filteredResults as $doc) {
    echo $doc->title . "<br>";
    echo $doc->content . "<br>";
}

Optimization Tips and Additional Features

This example demonstrates a basic implementation of search and deduplication. You can enhance it based on real project needs:

• Add keyword highlighting for better visibility
• Implement pagination to manage result sets
• Sort results by relevance or timestamp
• Integrate caching to improve performance

Conclusion

Combining PHP with Xunsearch to deduplicate search results is an effective way to boost search quality. Whether it's a content platform, Q&A system, or documentation hub, this approach helps minimize duplication and enhance user experience.

Further improvements can include leveraging additional Xunsearch features like autocomplete, pinyin support, or multi-field weighting to build more intelligent search systems.