Search Tip

Search Tips: How to Search More Effectively

Basic Searches You can write a basic search using words and phrases, separated by commas. If you want to see documents about using text editors to create Web documents, you can start with a single-word search, such as: editor In this case, your search finds all the documents that include the word "editor." However, this search would include not only documents about text editors, but also documents about people who are editors. (You don't have to specify the plural form, because a basic search includes stemmed variations, such as editors.) Documents about the Web that did not include the word editor would not be retrieved. To ask for more specific results, you could enter several words or phrases, separated by commas, that describe the subject more precisely, such as: text editor, document, web In this case, your search finds documents that contain text editor, document, or Web. (Case doesn't matter in searches: a word entered in lower case will match words in upper case, lower case, or mixed case.) The most relevant documents, such as those that discuss creating HTML documents for the Web using a text editor, will appear at the top of the results list. Using Operators You can make your searches more specific by combining the words you used for basic searches with operators. Operators are special words that are used to indicate logical relationships between the descriptive terms that make up your search. Basic Operators Here are basic operators that you can specify as part of searches.
Operator	Description
AND	Finds documents containing both words it joins.
OR	Finds documents containing either of the words it joins.
NOT	Finds documents containing the word preceding it and excludes documents containing the word that follows it.
, (comma)	Finds documents containing at least one of the words specified, ranking them using "the more, the better" approach, so documents with the most evidence of the words searched for are given the highest rank.
Note: AND, OR, and NOT are treated as operators by default, and do not require brackets. If you want to use them as literal words, place them in double quotes. More About Operators Here are some additional operators that you can specify as part of searches.
Operator	Description
?	Wildcard operator that represents any one character. The question mark is useful to substitute for characters in a particular position in a term. e.g., If you are searching for a document referring to someone named Fleiss but you are not sure if the name is spelled Fleiss or Fliess, use this query: fl??s
*	Wildcard operator that represents one or more characters. e.g., Using zoo* will return zoology and zoopraxiscope. Note: You cannot use a * to specify the first letter of a word.
'	Placing a word in single quotation marks finds stemmed variations of the word. e.g., The search 'edit' finds edited, editing, and edition.
"	Placing a word in double quotation marks finds exact matches only, excluding stemmed variations of the word. e.g., The search "edit" matches the word edit only, not the words edited, editing, or edition.
	Thesaurus operator that searches for documents containing words that are synonyms for the word you specify. e.g., The search altitude retrieves documents that include the words height and elevation, as well as altitude. Usage: must precede desired synonym.
Note: Basic searches find words that might contain the following special characters (such as /etc/passwd, CD-ROM, and t_alloc): - _ $ / You must double-quote words containing the following special characters (for example, "#include"): % + # = Search Examples Using these examples, you can write searches that will return exactly the information you want. Finding Words Most searches can be written by entering the words and phrases you're interested in, separated by commas. If you were looking for information about the Web or about using laptop computers, you could enter: web, laptop computers This search returns documents that contain the terms Web (case doesn't matter in searches), laptop computers, or both. Your results list will display a ranked list of documents, with the most relevant documents at the top of the list. Finding Phrases Perhaps you want to see documents that refer to a series of words that occur in a specific order, such as "Web publishing with HTML". You could enter the whole phrase: web publishing with html This search returns only documents that contain all of these words in the exact sequence you specified, including stemmed variations of the search terms. Finding a Specific Subject The simple search returned some documents about the Web, some documents about laptop computers, and some about both subjects. If your real interest is in accessing the Web using a laptop computer, you can use the AND operator to be more specific. You could enter: web AND laptop computers This search returns only those documents that contain both Web and laptop computers in the same document, so this list will be shorter than the results of the search written using commas. (You can enter AND in lower case and it will still be treated as an operator.) AND is treated as an operator unless it is surrounded by quotation marks. So if you want to use the word and as part of a phrase, place it inside quotation marks. For example, to search for the phrase "addresses and URLs", you would enter: addresses "and" URLs Excluding Terms You might want to specifically exclude certain documents from your results list. For example, you might want to see documents about most Web browsers, but you're not interested in Lynx. You could enter: web browser NOT lynx This search returns only documents referring to Web browsers that do not also mention Lynx. If a document includes both Web browser and Lynx, it will be excluded.

Advanced Topics

Punctuation Marks in Queries Any character without special meaning to the search engine can be entered anywhere in a query. For example, this query finds pages that match the phrase: either/or proposition The following characters have special meaning to the search engine:
Character	Description
, ( ) [	These characters end a text token.
= > < !	These characters end a text token because they signify the start of a field operator (! is special: != ends a token).
? @ ` < { [ !	These characters signify the start of a delimited token, which are terminated by the end character associated with the start character.
To search for a string that contains one of these characters, precede the character with a backslash. For example, to find pages that match "Rick?s Cafe", enter this query: rick\'s cafe Tip To search for a string that contains a backslash character, enter two backslash characters. For example, to find a page that contains a directory named "c:\games," enter this query: c:\\games Rules for Interpreting Queries In general, the search engine reads your query from right to left, processing each search string and operator action in turn to produce a results list of matches. Some operators carry more weight than others, however, which may affect the interpretation of your query. In this case, the AND operator takes precedence over the OR operator. Search strings linked by the AND operator are processed before search strings linked by the OR operator. The following example is interpreted to mean: Find pages that match "adobe" and "verity," or pages that match "cognisoft": cognisoft OR adobe AND verity Tip To ensure that the OR operator is interpreted first, you can enclose the search strings linked by the OR operator in parentheses as a nested query. Nested Queries You can enclose search terms and their operators in parentheses to specify the order that they are interpreted. Information within parentheses is read first, then information outside parentheses is read next. The following example is interpreted to mean: Find pages that match "adobe" or "cognisoft" as well as "verity": (cognisoft OR adobe) AND verity Nested Parentheses If there are nested parentheses, the search engine processes the innermost parenthetical expression first, then the next, and so on until the entire query is interpreted. The following example is interpreted to mean: Find pages that match adobe or cognisoft as well as verity or pages that match intel: ((cognisoft OR adobe) AND verity) OR intel Word Combination Operators Word combination operators tell the search engine how to search for combinations of words, phrases, or a word and a phrase:
Character	Description
	at least one of the words entered must exist to create a match, and the more unique words found, the higher the score
AND	all words must exist in each document to be considered a match
OR	any one of the words can be found to create a match (at least one)
	the words must occur in the same order entered (same as surrounding search phrase in double quotes)
	the words must occur in the same sentence to match (any order)
	the words must occur in the same paragraph to match (any order)
	the words must occur within three words (or any number entered) to be considered a match
	the words must occur in the same document and the closer the proximity (any order), the higher the score
	all of the words must exist
	any of the words can exist
To use the word combination operators, enter the first word or phrase, then the operator, then another word or phrase. The search engine will search for both the preceding and following word or phrase according to the operator rule. Example: triangle bermuda Retrieves documents containing "triangle" and "bermuda" in one sentence (in any order). You may use more than one of these operators in a query. Most operators require that you place angle brackets ( < > ) around the operator to clearly distinguish its meaning. Default operators and modifiers do not require that you add angle brackets; AND and OR are assumed to be operators and NOT is assumed to be a modifier when used. We recommend keeping your operator combinations fairly simple. Simple combinations produce more predictable results, and ensure that the search engine will be able to read the combinations. Example: cousteau AND whale spawning Retrieves documents containing the word "cousteau" and a sentence including both "whale" and "spawning." Example: dark AND dangerous AND deadly Retrieves documents with all three words. Note that it is generally easier to use the comma between search words if any one of them should be considered a match. Queries automatically search for any word occurrence when the words are separated by commas. Ransom OR Kidnapping OR hearst collect the same documents as ransom, kidnapping, hearst, but document scores can differ because the use of the comma specifies the operator. Accrue considers each word evidence of your subject, and gives documents a higher score when more evidence exists. Word Operators You can use these operators for a single word:
Character	Description
	find the exact spelling (no variations or stems). You can also double quote the search word to indicate this rule. computer is the same as "computer" and both match specifically on this word without stemming for other endings like computers, or computed.
	find all standard variant endings for the stem (this operator is the search engine's default search rule). You can also use a single quote to indicate this rule.
	find all words with the string, including anything before or after the asterisk (*) or character (?), were the operator appears
	find all words that sound like this word
	find all words that are spelled similarly
A word operator applies to the single word which immediately follows it. To use a word operator, enter the operator first, then the word. For example: consistency darkness visible dance sherbert The default search rule is (all standard variant endings for the stem). So you don't have to enter the operator when you want a stem-based search. With the operator, you must include an asterisk either at the start or end of the word where you want all other matches. For example: Example: syncopat* Retrieves "syncopation", "syncopate". Example: *down Retrieves "breakdown", "meltdown", "down." You may combine word operators with word group operators. Example: kidnap AND> ransom Retrieves documents with "kidnap" ("kidnapping", "kidnapped") and "ransom". Example: violin play Retrieves documents with a sentence containing both "violin" and "play" ("playing", "played") in any order. Example: fancy AND hat Retrieves documents containing both the words "fancy" and "hat" (this query would not retrieve a document containing only "fancy" and "hats"). Advanced WILDCARD Features You can use the following wildcard characters to represent variable portions of search strings with the WILDCARD operator.
Character	Description
?	Specifies one of any alphanumeric character, as in ?an, which locates "ran," "pan," "can," and "ban." Note that it is not necessary to specify the WILDCARD operator when you use the question mark. The question mark is ignored in a set ([ ]) or in an alternative pattern ({ }).
*	Specifies zero or more of any alphanumeric character, as in corp*, which locates "corporate," "corporation," "corporal," and "corpulent." Note that it is not necessary to specify the WILDCARD operator when you use the asterisk, and you should not use the asterisk to specify the first character of a wildcard string. The asterisk is ignored in a set ([ ]) or in an alternative pattern ({ }).
[ ]	Specifies one of any character in a set, as in `c[auo]t`, which locates "cat," "cut," and "cot." Note that you must enclose the word which includes a set in backquotes (`), and there can be no spaces in a set.
{ }	Specifies one of each pattern separated by a comma, as in `bank{s,er,ing}`, which locates "banks," "banker," and "banking." Note that you must enclose the word which includes a pattern in backquotes (`), and there can be no spaces in a set.
^	Specifies one of any character not in the set, as in `st[^oa]ck`, which excludes "stock" and "stack" but locates "stick" and "stuck." Note that the caret (^) must be the first character after the left bracket ([) that introduces a set.
-	Specifies a range of characters in a set, as in `c[a-r]t`, which locates every three-letter word from "cat" to "crt."
Searching for Non-alphanumeric Characters Remember that you can only search for non-alphanumeric characters if the style.lex file used to create the collections you are searching is set up to recognize the characters you want to search for. Consult your collection administrator for information. Searching for Wildcard Characters as Literals The wildcard characters listed above are interpreted as wildcard characters, not literal characters, unless they are delimited by a backslash (\). If you want a wildcard character to be interpreted as a literal in a wildcard string, you must precede the character with two backslashes. For example, to match the literal asterisk (*) in a wildcard string, you delimit the character as follows: a\\* Searching for Special Characters as Literals The following non-alphanumeric characters perform special, internal Verity search engine functions, and by default are not treated as literals in a wildcard string: comma , left and right parentheses ( ) double quotation mark " backslash \ at sign @ left curly brace { left bracket [ less than sign < backquote ` To interpret special characters as literals, you must surround the whole wildcard string in back quotes (`). For example, to search for the wildcard string "a{b", you surround the string with back quotes, as follows: `a\{b` To search for a wildcard string that includes the literal backquote character (`), you must use two back quotes together and surround the whole wildcard string in back quotes (`), as follows: `*n``t` Using Modifiers Modifiers modify the operator search rule, generally adding an additional level of detail. Use them to increase the accuracy of your queries. find exact upper/lowercase spelling as entered in the query count occurences of this word or phrase in a document, and assign a slightly higher score for more occurences based on the density of the document NOT exclude documents with this word, phrase, or value (the modifier will also retrieve all documents that do not contain the search value) Rules for Adding Modifiers A search word or value must have an operator in order to use a modifier. Since the search engine assumes an operator of for words, you can use a modifier by itself. The search engine assumes a default modifier of for word searches. The modifier is placed directly in front of the word or operator. You can use with single words (with or without a word operator). can apply to single words and to phrases. NOT applies to any word, phrase or topic. Example: Japan Retrieves documents with the word spelled "Japan". Example: wall street Assigns slightly higher scores to documents using the phrase "wall street" many times. Example: gorbachev AND NOT yeltsin Retrieves documents with "gorbachev" excluding any which also contain "yeltsin".