fulltext problem

i have to query the database mysql for records
and display them using php.
i have used fulltext search.
my query returns no rows because of the following
three reasons
1) May be the word is less than 4 characters
............proper message for such a case can be displayed for the user.

2) The word does not exist
3) The word exists, but its relevance is less

now how to differentiate between the last two cases
because
if the word does not exist
i will display the user, that record not found
but if the word exists, and just because of its relevance % it
is not returned
then i should display the user , that the word exists
but just because of its relevance %
it is not displayed, try using some more keywords
or the word is common word
the soln for this can be
if the query return no rows
i can then query the table using like clause
but i don't want to do that.

now how to solve this problem.
and i am using mysql 3.23.53a max version

thanks in advance

Unfortunately, there is no way.

Hadley

you should up to ver 4.0 is there a reason why you can't.

How would that help?

Hadley