Search Keyword Help
Keyword Help
The information on this page applies to the Simple Keyword Search and the Advanced Search Keyword search.
The operators AND and OR, and the modifier NOT, do not require angle brackets (<>). Operators typically require angle brackets and are used in explicit queries.
Operators
An operator represents logic to be applied to a search element. This logic defines the qualifications that a phonebook record must meet to be retrieved. You can use operators to refine your search or to influence the results in other ways. In the search form, you can search for a single term. You can refine the search by limiting the search scope in a number of ways. Operators are available for limiting a query to a sentence or paragraph, and you can search words based on proximity. Ordinarily, you use operators in explicit searches, as follows:
"<operator>search_string" Where the operator must be between the "<" and ">".
The following operator types are available:
The following table shows the operators, according to type, that are available for conducting searches:
Concept operators
Concept operators combine the meaning of search elements to identify a concept in a record. The following table describes each concept operator:
Evidence operators
Concept operators combine the meaning of search elements to identify a concept in a record. The following table describes each concept operator:
Proximity operators
Proximity operators specify the relative location of specific words in the document. To retrieve a document, the specified words must be in the same phrase, paragraph, or sentence. In the case of NEAR and NEAR/N operators, retrieved records are ranked by relevance based on the proximity of the specified words. Proximity operators can be nested; phrases or words can appear within SENTENCE or PARAGRAPH operators, and SENTENCE operators can appear within PARAGRAPH operators. The following table describes the proximity operators:
The information on this page applies to the Simple Keyword Search and the Advanced Search Keyword search.
The following table shows examples of simple searches:
|
Example
|
Search result
|
|---|---|
| low,brass | low or brass |
| low brass instrument | the phrase, low brass instrument |
| film | film, films, filming, or filmed |
| filming AND fun | filming and fun in the same record |
| filming OR fun | film, films, filming, or filmed, or fun |
| filming NOT fun | film, films, filming, or filmed, but not fun |
Operators
An operator represents logic to be applied to a search element. This logic defines the qualifications that a phonebook record must meet to be retrieved. You can use operators to refine your search or to influence the results in other ways. In the search form, you can search for a single term. You can refine the search by limiting the search scope in a number of ways. Operators are available for limiting a query to a sentence or paragraph, and you can search words based on proximity. Ordinarily, you use operators in explicit searches, as follows:
"<operator>search_string" Where the operator must be between the "<" and ">".
The following operator types are available:
|
Operator type
|
Purpose
|
|---|---|
| Concept | Identifies a concept in a document by combining the meanings of search elements. |
| Evidence | Specifies basic and intelligent word searches. |
| Proximity | Specifies the relative location of words in a document. |
The following table shows the operators, according to type, that are available for conducting searches:
| Concept | Evidence | Proximity |
| ACCRUE | STEM | NEAR |
| ALL | WILDCARD | NEAR/N |
| AND | TYPO/N | PARAGRAPH |
| ANY | PHRASE | |
| OR | SENTENCE | |
| IN |
Concept operators
Concept operators combine the meaning of search elements to identify a concept in a record. The following table describes each concept operator:
|
Operator
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| AND | Selects records that contain all the search elements that you specify. |
| OR | Selects records that show evidence of at least one of the search elements that you specify. |
| ACCRUE | Selects records that include at least one of the search elements that you specify. |
| ALL | Selects records that contain all of the search elements that you specify. |
| ANY | Selects records that contain at least one of the search elements that you specify. |
Evidence operators
Concept operators combine the meaning of search elements to identify a concept in a record. The following table describes each concept operator:
|
Operator
|
Description
|
Example
|
|---|---|---|
| STEM | Expands the search to include the word that you enter and its variations. | <STEM>believe retrieves matches such as "believe," "believing," and "believer". |
| WILDCARD | Matches wildcard characters included in search strings. Certain characters automatically indicate a wildcard specification, such as apostrophe (*) | spam* retrieves matches such as, spam, spammer, and spamming. |
| TYPO/N | Expands the search to include the word that you enter plus words that are similar to the query term. This operator performs "approximate pattern matching" to identify similar words. The optional N variable in the operator name expresses the maximum number of errors between the query term and a matched term, a value called the error distance. If N is not specified, the default error distance is 2. | <TYPO> swept retrieves kept. |
Proximity operators
Proximity operators specify the relative location of specific words in the document. To retrieve a document, the specified words must be in the same phrase, paragraph, or sentence. In the case of NEAR and NEAR/N operators, retrieved records are ranked by relevance based on the proximity of the specified words. Proximity operators can be nested; phrases or words can appear within SENTENCE or PARAGRAPH operators, and SENTENCE operators can appear within PARAGRAPH operators. The following table describes the proximity operators:
|
Operator
|
Description
|
Example
|
|---|---|---|
| NEAR | Selects records containing specified search terms. The closer the search terms are to one another within a document, the higher the document’s score. The document with the smallest possible region containing all search terms always receives the highest score. records whose search terms are not within 1000 words of each other are not selected. | war <NEAR> peace retrieves records that contain stemmed variations of these words within close proximity to each other (as defined by our search engine). To control search proximity, use NEAR/N. |
| NEAR/N | Selects records containing two or more search terms within N number of words of each other, where N is an integer between 1 and 1024. NEAR/1 searches for two words that are next to each other. The closer the search terms are within a document, the higher the document's score. You can specify multiple search terms using multiple instances of NEAR/N as long as the value of N is the same. | commute <NEAR/10> bicycle <NEAR/10> train <NEAR/10> retrieves records that contain stemmed variations of these words within 10 words of each other. |
| PARAGRAPH | Selects records that include all of the words you specify within the same paragraph. To search for three or more words or phrases in a paragraph, you must use the PARAGRAPH operator between each word or phrase. | <PARAGRAPH> (mission, goal, statement) retrieves records that contain these terms within a paragraph. |
| PHRASE | Selects records that include a phrase you specify. A phrase is a grouping of two or more words that occur in a specific order. | <PHRASE> (mission, oak) returns records that contain the phrase mission oak. |
| SENTENCE | Selects records that include all of the words you specify within the same sentence. | <SENTENCE> (jazz, musician) returns records that contain these words in the same sentence. |
| IN | Selects records that contain specified values in one or more document zones. A document zone represents a region of a document, such as the document’s summary, date, or body text. To search for a term only within the one or more zones that have certain conditions, you qualify the IN operator with the WHEN operator. | Chang <IN> author searches document zones named author for the word Chang. |
