Boolean Operators

Two search terms can be combined by one of the three Boolean Operators - and, or or not. These operators determine how (and if) the terms appear in the document relative to one another:

* AND
Selects items that contain all of the search terms.
Example: java and xml

* OR
Selects items that show evidence of at least one of the search terms.
Example: java or xml

* NOT
Selects items which contain the first term but not the second term.
Example: java not xml

Proximity Operators

Use Proximity Operators to specify the relative location of specific words (how close together they must be) in a search string. All operators except Booleans (see above) should be enclosed in brackets < >.

* NEAR/n
Selects items containing the search terms within n number of terms of each other.
Example: java <near/5> xml

* PARAGRAPH
Selects items that include all of the search terms within the same paragraph.
Example: java <paragraph> xml

* SENTENCE
Selects items that include all of the search terms within the same sentence.
Example: java <sentence> xml

Wildcards

Use Wildcards (?, *) to select items containing several variant spellings of one or more words:

? - Search for words which vary by only one letter.
Example: prioriti?e - will find items containing the word spelled either prioritize or prioritise.

* - Use the asterisk to stand in place of one or more letters at the end of a word.
Example: corpor* - will find items containing at least one of the following words: corporate, corporation, corporeal, etc.

Use Soundex to select items that sound like, or have similar letter-patterns to, the term(s) you want to search. NOTE: All results will start with the same letter as the word you have entered.

* For example: <soundex> collate (the results could include collateral, collapse, collide, and so on).

Tip: to view the above help text on screen, click Operator List next to query box.