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Search – Searching entries

A short note on DNs

It may be possible that restricted characters (",", "+", """, "\", "<", ">", ";", "#", "=", space or a hexpair) are used in attributes or values inside the DN. You should have a look to the APIdoc of Net_LDAP2_Util::escape_dn_value(), Net_LDAP2_Util::unescape_dn_value(), Net_LDAP2_Util::ldap_explode_dn() and Net_LDAP2_Util::canonical_dn(). These functions can be used to safely handle DNs.

Searching some entries

After connecting to the server, you can use Net_LDAP2's search() method to search the directory. The method takes three parameters:

$base is the base search DN. If kept null, the default base DN configured when connecting is used.
$filter is the query filter that determines which results are returned. It is either a string (experts use only) or better a Net_LDAP2_Filter-object. Net_LDAP2_Filter automatically deals with LDAP-Filter escaping issues. LDAP filters are extensively explained at the chapter LDAP filters.

$params is an array of configuration options for the current query.

Possible configuration parameters
Name	Description	Default
`scope`	The scope used for searching: `base` - Just one entry `sub` - The whole tree `one` - Immediately below `$base`	`sub`
`sizelimit`	Number of entries returned at maximum	`0` (no limit)
`timelimit`	Seconds to spent for searching	`0` (no limit)
`attrsonly`	If `true`, only attribute names are returned	`false`
`attributes`	Array of attribute names, which the entry should contain. It is good practice to limit this to just the ones you need.	`array()` (all attributes)

The search() method will return either a Net_LDAP2_Search object or a Net_LDAP2_Error. You can use the Net_LDAP2_Search-object to trigger further actions like counting how many entries where found or to retrieve the found entries.

Making a search query


<?php
// Building a very basic filter
// we want to find all Entries whose surnames start with "Joe":
$filter = Net_LDAP2_Filter::create('sn', 'begins',  'Joe');

// We define a custom searchbase here. If you pass NULL, the basedn provided
// in the Net_LDAP2 configuration will be used. This is often not what you want.
$searchbase = 'ou=addressbook,dc=example,dc=org';

// Some options:
// We search all subtrees beneath 'ou=addressbook,dc=example,dc=org'
// and we select the attribute 'sn'. It is a good practice to limit the
// requested attributes to only those you actually want to use later.
// However, note that it is faster to select unneeded attributes than
// refetching an entry later to just get those attributes.
$options = array(
    'scope' => 'sub',
    'attributes' => array('sn')
);

// Perform the search!
$search = $ldap->search($searchbase, $filter, $options);

// Test for search errors:
if (PEAR::isError($search)) {
    die($search->getMessage() . "\n");
}

// Say how many entries we have found:
echo "Found " . $search->count() . " entries!";
?>

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Configuration and connecting	PEAR Manual	Fetching entries