Wildcard commands (find words beginning with characters you type)

Boolean commands (searching for multiple items)

Proximity searches (finding words near each other)

Comparison and range searching

Date searching

Wildcard Commands

You can use a wildcard symbol (*) at the end of a word, to find words beginning with the characters you typed.

A search for g* washing* will find G. Washington, Geo. Washington, George Washington, and Greta Washingwear. Typing as much of the word as you can before the * will improve your response time as well as improving the accuracy of your results.

Searching for Multiple Items

Within a box

To find records that satisfy multiple conditions in a single box, separate the search items with symbols:

Symbol >>> Explanation

/   = Represents Boolean OR. Expands a search, because EITHER condition may be met. Example: computer / network finds information about either of those topics.

&  = Represents Boolean AND. Limits a search, because ALL conditions must be met. Use & if the retrieved records must satisfy several criteria at once. Example: computer & network finds topics only if they contain BOTH words.

!   = Represents Boolean NOT. Excludes records from the search results. Example: computer ! network finds topics that contain the word computer, but not network.

Don't confuse AND and OR. A search for car&automobile&vehicle probably won't find any records, but car/automobile/vehicle will. Why? Because the first search (using &) requires that each record contain all three words. The second search (using /) requests any record containing any of those words.

Don't use other symbols to separate search items. A search for car, automobile will look for those two words appearing consecutively (a phrase). It is exactly the same as a search for car automobile.

If the item for which you are searching includes characters that might be misinterpreted, surround the item with quotation marks. Example: search for "AT&T" or "1/31/96". This is especially important when searching for dates, because the forward slash (/) represents Boolean OR. When in doubt, use quotation marks.

You can include or omit spaces around the Boolean symbols (& / !). You can combine symbols in a box, and use parentheses to control the order of evaluation. Without parentheses, the conditions are evaluated in left-to-right order.

Across boxes

To find records that satisfy multiple conditions in more than one box, type information in each box. If the query form includes Boolean droplists next to the boxes, you can change the condition associated with that box.

Boolean Command >>> Explanation

OR = Retrieves records that meet ANY of the criteria, such as all books written by Smith OR about baseball, OR both.

AND = Retrieves only those records that meet ALL of the criteria, such as all books written by Smith AND which are about baseball.

NOT = Excludes records from the search results, such as all books written by Smith which are NOT about baseball.

Search criteria in boxes are evaluated in top-to-bottom order.

Words Near Each Other

To find one word within a certain distance of another word, use w (within) or p (preceding) followed by a number.

Operator >>> Meaning >>> Example

w# = Find all occurrences of two words where they are within # words of each other (local within 3 words of networks, before or after). - local w3 networks

p# = Find all occurrences of two words where the first precedes the second by no more than # words (red precedes chevrolet by 2 words or less). - red p2 chevrolet

Tips

You can use a wildcard symbol at the end of either word: local w3 network*

You cannot string together multiple proximity searches, such as sailing w3 race w2 cup, nor can you use a phrase in a proximity search: clinton w5 white house.

When counting words, the first word is not included but the second word is. Example: in the phrase once in a lifetime, once is within three words of lifetime.

Comparison and Range Searches

You can include the operators shown below when searching a field's term index. You cannot perform a comparison or range search on a field that is word indexed only.

Operator >>> [Meaning] >>> Example

= [Equal to (exact match)] =local area networks

> [Greater than] >5500

>= [Greater than or equal to] >=5500

< [Less than] <1-Jan-1995

<= [Less than or equal to] <=TX

: [Within range] 1993:1995

Tips

Use = to specify that a field must contain the information specified without additional text before or after. A search for =software in a descriptor field will find records where that word is a descriptor, but will not find records having descriptors such as computer software or software development. A search for software (without the =) will find those terms. (Note that in a DB/TextWorks textbase, a field can have multiple entries in a single record. For example, there can be several descriptors. A search for =software finds records where the word software is one of the descriptors.)

Greater than (>) means later than when used with dates and alphabetically after when used with text. Less than (<) means before with dates and alphabetically before with text. When used with a partial date, these operators search from the beginning of the date item (first day of the month or year).

A range consists of two values, low and high, separated by a colon. You can include or omit spaces around the colon. Ranges are inclusive (500:999 includes 500 and 999, and 1993:1995 in a date field finds all dates in 1993, 1994, and 1995).

Searching for Dates

You can use any reasonable date format to find information in a date field. Example: A search for June 1995 or 6-95 will find the following:

     June '95                   12-Jun-95

     June 3, 1995               6/95

     JUN-1995                   6/30/95

     1995, June                 June 1995

You can type a year alone (to retrieve all dates within that year), a year and month (to find dates in that month), or a year, month and day. Punctuation between these elements is optional, but you should avoid slash (/) because it will be interpreted as a Boolean symbol, unless the date is surrounded with quotation marks.

Use comparison or range operators to find dates before or after a particular date, or falling within a specified period. If you use comparison operators with a partial date, the search proceeds from the beginning of the period indicated. For example, <1995 find dates in 1994 and earlier, but a search for >1995 includes dates in 1995. Range searches involving partial dates find everything from the beginning of the first date period to the end of the second. For example, a search for Jan 96:Mar 96 finds everything in January, February, and March of 1996.

This method will not work to find dates embedded in text. There, date information is treated as a series of words and can be retrieved in a phrase search, but the format must match. A search for 6-95 will not find June, 1995 embedded in other text.