Maximum size of the contains_search_condition clause in a CONTAINS statement

Hi,
We're using the SQL Server Full Text Engine to implement a search engine. Users can enter queries which are then executed using the CONTAINS statement. I can't find any documentation that indicates the maximum allowable size of the contains_search_conditi
on clause. Our users' search terms can be quite complex with many Boolean predicates. As a result they can become quite long: several hundred or even a few thousand characters long. What is the upper size limit?
Many thanks,
Dan
Dan,
There was an early bug in SQL Server 2000 RTM that limited the max character
length to 1023 (1K -1), but it was fixed in SP1.
I believe that the max character limit was extended to the max length of
char/varchar datatype length of 8000.
Regards,
John
"Dan Crow" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A46B5192-072F-4DF0-8D9E-F44D955EDB58@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> We're using the SQL Server Full Text Engine to implement a search engine.
Users can enter queries which are then executed using the CONTAINS
statement. I can't find any documentation that indicates the maximum
allowable size of the contains_search_condition clause. Our users' search
terms can be quite complex with many Boolean predicates. As a result they
can become quite long: several hundred or even a few thousand characters
long. What is the upper size limit?
> Many thanks,
> Dan