Chapter 7. Search-based applications

Over the last several chapters, I’ve introduced a variety of topics and problems that can be solved with Redis. Redis is particularly handy in solving a class of problems that I generally refer to as search-based problems. These types of problems primarily involve the use of SET and ZSET intersection, union, and difference operations to find items that match a specified criteria.

In this chapter, I’ll introduce the concept of searching for content with Redis SETs. We’ll then talk about scoring and sorting our search results based on a few different options. After getting all of the basics out of the way, we’ll dig into creating an ad-targeting engine using Redis, based on what we know about search. Before finishing the chapter, we’ll talk about a method for matching or exceeding a set of requirements as a part of job searching.

Overall, the set of problems in this chapter will show you how to search and filter data quickly and will expand your knowledge of techniques that you can use to organize and search your own information. First, let’s talk about what we mean by searching in Redis.

7.1. Searching in Redis

7.2. Sorted indexes

7.3. Ad targeting

7.4. Job search

7.5. Summary