Tips for Searching
At its
simplest a query can be just a word or a phrase. But with the tips
on this page, you can expand the focus of your query to give you
more complete results. These tips will get you started with
basic query language.
- Look for
words with the same prefix. For example, in your query form,
type key* to find key, keying, keyhole, keyboard, and so on.
- Search for
all forms of a word. For example, in the form, type sink** to find sink, sinking, sank, and sunk.
- Search with
the keyword NEAR, rather than AND, for words close
to each other. For example, both of these queries, system and
manager and system near manager, look for the words system and manager on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned pages are
ranked in order of proximity: The closer together the words
are, the higher the rank of that page.
- Refine your
queries with the AND NOT keywords to exclude certain text
from your search. For example, if you want to find all instances
of surfing, but not the Net, write the
following query:
surfing AND NOT the Net
- Add the OR keyword to find all instances of either one work or another.
For example: Abbot OR Costello
This query
finds all pages that mention Abbott or Costello or both.
- Put quotation
marks around keywords if you want the search engine to take them
literally. For instance, if you type the following query:
"system near manager"
The
search engine will literally look for the complete phrase system
near manager. But if you type the same query
without the quotation marks
system
near manager
The search
engine will search for all documents with the words system and manager.