SELECT * FROM tab1, tab2, tab3 WHERE name = 'Bob'

select * from *.*;

// Get all the tables within the database
$result = mysql_query("SHOW TABLES in databaseName");

// Get them into an array
$tables = array();

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
     $tables[] = $row[0];

mysql_free_result($result);

// Now $tables is an enumerated array of the table names
// Loop through and construct the query

$query = "SELECT * FROM ";

// length of table so we know when to pull out of addinfg commas and OR's
$nm = count($tables);


// We are giving each table a pseudo name so we can use the same pseudo name when searching
foreach ($tables as $num => $tbl)
    $query .= $tbl . ' AS table' . $num . ($num + 1 == $nm ? ' ' :  ', ');

$query .= " WHERE table0.name='Jon' ";

for ($i=1; $i < $nm; $i++)
    $query .= "OR table{$i}.name='jon' ";

// Now query the database

$result = mysql_query($query);

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
...
$query .= $tbl . ' AS table' . $num . ($num + 1 == $nm ? ' ': ', ');

$query = "SELECT * FROM ";

foreach ($tables as $num => $tbl)
    $query .= "(SELECT * FROM $tbl WHERE id=1)" . ($num + 1 == $nm ? ' ' : ' UNION ');