# Finding a couple? **URL:** \ **Category:** RootsMagic\ **Tags:** question\ **Created:** [September 5, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451 "2023-09-05T14:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@gray](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/gray)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/1 "2023-09-05T14:14:36Z")
Its been baffling me but how do you quickly find a couple, such as |Father|John Goodyer| |Mother|Sarah| Just too many John’s and the only other info is birth of daughter Christened in 1734 with no christian name Using other database types such as mysql, I used to be able to enter “John Goodyer & Sarah” on command line, as a logic ‘and’. Is this possible with sqlite within Rootsmagic. ---
**Author:** ![kbens0n](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/kbens0n/32/80_2.png) [@kbens0n](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/kbens0n)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/2 "2023-09-05T14:29:26Z")
![2023-09-05_102512](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/rootsmagic/original/2X/4/4d5a932da8ca5bd44426f6687d619ad8ba909328.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![gray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@gray](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/gray)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/3 "2023-09-05T15:55:02Z")
Thanks for quick response. That search only gives one person. The Advanced search is also not quite there as it only searches one person. I am looking for a dual search ie father + (logical and) mother, like find all John’s and Sarah’s. Similar Mysql command SELECT \* FROM MY FAMILY TREE WHERE FatherChristianName LIKE ‘John’ AND MotherChristianName LIKE ‘Sarah’; Also maybe SELECT \* FROM MY FAMILY TREE WHERE FatherChristianName LIKE ‘John’ AND FatherSurnameName LIKE ‘Goodyer’ AND MotherChristianName LIKE ‘Sarah’; ---
**Author:** ![kfunk](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/kfunk/32/68_2.png) [@kfunk](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/kfunk)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/4 "2023-09-05T16:12:46Z")
You obviously can not do it from within Rootsmagic, but I am curious as to whether you have tried it using the SQLite CLI? I have never tried such a thing, and it may note be ideal but it is worth a try. ---
**Author:** ![kbens0n](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/kbens0n/32/80_2.png) [@kbens0n](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/kbens0n)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/5 "2023-09-05T16:27:14Z")
> [@gray](#): > > That search only gives one person. The Advanced search is also not quite there as it only searches one person. Yeah, I was just answering the “[a] couple” question which works. > [@gray](#): > > I am looking for a dual search ie father + (logical and) mother, like find all John’s and Sarah’s. Don’t believe you’ll find anything couple-related where Given name is the discriminant search term. Additionally, most views and reports manifest name blocks as Surname, Given coupled together in a single field. ---
**Author:** ![thejerrybryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/thejerrybryan/32/404_2.png) [@thejerrybryan](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/thejerrybryan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 4:40pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/6 "2023-09-05T16:40:16Z")
It can be done with SQLite. I use an SQLite manager rather than am SQLite command line interface, but the principal is the same. The query would be a little more complex than the example you gave. One row of RM’s FamilyTable includes RIN numbers for both the father and mother. You would need include a JOIN from the FatherID in the FamilyTable to the NameTable and also a JOIN from the MotherID in the FamilyTable to the NameTable - maybe four or five lines of SQL in all. Discussions of SQLite should be moved to [SQLite Tools For RootsMagic](https://sqlitetoolsforrootsmagic.com/). I’m fluent with SQLite and the RM database, but I really try to as much in RM itself without needing to resort to SQLite. The RM user interface doesn’t do everything you need, but it really is a function rich user interface. I can avoid using SQLite in a very high percentage of cases. In this case, I would use RM’s Couple List view. I would filter the list by typing "goodyer, john into the search box. I would then sort the filtered Couple List by the Mother column and it should be very easy to find Sarah. The " at the beginning of the filter is probably not necessary in this case because goodyer is not a very common character string. But using the " at the beginning of the filter means, for example, that a filter of "smith will only find the Smith surname whereas a filter of smith without the " will find the Smith surname and also the Highsmith surname. I doubt that you have any Highgoodyer names in your database or anything similar. Your observation that RM is weak on searching or filtering by family member names is accurate. For example, you can’t easily find John Smith who was the son of Sarah very easily as compared to John Smith who was the son of Elizabeth. ---
**Author:** ![gray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@gray](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/gray)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/7 "2023-09-05T18:01:13Z")
Thats a good response [thejerrybryan](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/thejerrybryan) I will have a good read and understanding of that. I will also checkout [SQLite Tools For RootsMagic](https://sqlitetoolsforrootsmagic.com/) But in the mean time any ideas where the paths to db files within Rootsmagic. ---
**Author:** ![thejerrybryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.rootsmagic.com/thejerrybryan/32/404_2.png) [@thejerrybryan](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/thejerrybryan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/8 "2023-09-05T18:28:42Z")
> [@gray](#): > > But in the mean time any ideas where the paths to db files within Rootsmagic. The file with the rmtree extension is an SQLite database. It’s basically all one big file with multiple tables in the one big file. Media files are not in the database and the database only contains links to them. The schema is described at the SQLite Tools site. ---
**Author:** ![alainemk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@alainemk](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/alainemk)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/9 "2023-09-05T20:31:39Z")
Have you used the search box in Couple view? ---
**Author:** ![gray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@gray](https://community.rootsmagic.com/u/gray)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://community.rootsmagic.com/t/finding-a-couple/8451/10 "2023-09-18T15:05:30Z")
thanks for all the excellent ideas. much appreciated.