Cross column searching a relational database table

A method of searching a relational database table comprising:

• providing a relational database that is a collection of related relational database tables such that relationships exist both among columns within each relational database table and among the related relational database tables wherein each relational database table having a plurality of rows and columns such that each of the plurality of columns has a column name descriptive of data in the each of the columns;
• providing a relational database management system (RDBMS) to manage access to the relational database tables;
• detecting when at least one metadata tag in addition to the column name has been provided to at least some of the plurality of columns in the relational database tables such that the at least one metadata tag and the column name exist concurrently in the same column in the same relational database table for the at least some of the plurality of columns in the relational database tables, wherein the metadata tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term that is assigned to the at least some of the plurality of columns;
• when at least one metadata tag has been provided to at least some of the plurality of columns, fetching a list of metadata tags corresponding to the at least some of the plurality of columns;
• responsive to selecting at least one metadata tag and responsive to selecting a search string, searching by a search and join function of the RDBMS columns of the at least some of the plurality of columns corresponding to the at least one metadata tag in the relational database tables to find data matching the search string in the at least some of the plurality of columns corresponding to the at least one metadata tag,
• the method being implemented on at least one computing device.

A computer program product for searching a relational database table, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to provide a relational database that is a collection of related relational database tables such that relationships exist both among columns within each relational database table and among the related relational database tables wherein each relational database table having a plurality of rows and columns such that each of the plurality of columns has a column name descriptive of data in the each of the columns;
• computer readable program code configured to provide a relational database management system (RDBMS) to manage access to the relational database tables;
• computer readable program code configured to provide at least one metadata tag in addition to the column name to at least some of the plurality of columns in the relational database tables such that the at least one metadata tag and the column name exist concurrently in the same column in the same relational database table for the at least some of the plurality of columns in the relational database tables, wherein the metadata tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term that is assigned to the at least some of the plurality of columns;
• responsive to selecting at least one metadata tag and responsive to selecting a search string, computer readable program code configured to search by a search and join function of the RDBMS columns of the at least some of the plurality of columns corresponding to the at least one metadata tag in the relational database tables to find data matching the search string.