Search Operators

Operators represent logic to be applied to a search element. This logic defines the qualifications a document must meet to be retrieved.

Table 3-1: Search Operators and Examples

WORD operator Searches for a word.
The WORD operator is an evidence operator used to search for a word without stemming.
For example, to search for documents that contain the word “rhetoric”, enter the following:
<WORD> rhetoric
AND operator Searches for documents containing all of two or more search terms, and provides relevance-ranked results.
The And operator searches for documents that contain all of the search elements you specify. Documents retrieved using the AND operator are relevance-ranked. To search for documents that contain the phrase “pharmaceutical companies” and the word “stock” enter:
pharmaceutical companies AND stock
To search for documents that contain both the words “data” and “security” enter:
data AND security
OR operator Searches for documents containing one of two or more search terms, and provides relevance-ranked results.
The OR operator is a concept operator used to search for documents containing one of two or more search terms, and provides relevance-ranked results.
Simple Syntax
To search for all documents that contain one or more of the words and phrases “election”, “national elections”, and “senatorial race”, enter the following:
election OR national elections OR senatorial race
Explicit Syntax
To search for documents that contain either the word “computer” or the word “security”, enter the following:
<OR> (computer, security)
NEAR/n operator Searches for information containing two or more words within n number of words of each other, where n is an integer.
The NEAR/n operator is a proximity operator used to search for information containing two or more words within n number of words of each other, where n is an integer. The Indexer will assign document scores based on the relative distance of search terms, when the terms are separated by n words or less; words separated by more than n words will not be assigned scores and will not be retrieved.
For example, if NEAR/ 5 is used to find two terms within five words of each other, a document that has the two terms within two words of each other scores higher than a document that has the two terms within five words of each other. The N variable can be an integer between 1 and 1,024, where NEAR/ 1 searches for terms that are next to each other. If N is 1,000 or above, the N value must be given without a comma. To search for relevance-ranked documents that contain search terms within N words of each other, the following syntax can be used.
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Simple Syntax = wordA <NEAR/N> wordB <NEAR/N> wordC ...

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Explicit Syntax = <NEAR/N> (wordA, wordB, wordC, ...)

To search for the term “air” within 10 words of the term “pollution”, use one of the query expressions below.
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Simple Syntax = air <NEAR/10> pollution

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Explicit Syntax = <NEAR/10> (air, pollution)

Using the ORDER modifier with NEAR/N allows you to perform ordered searches. To search for the terms “air” and “pollution” within two words of each other, use one of the query expressions below.
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Simple Syntax = air <ORDER> <NEAR/2> pollution

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Explicit Syntax = <ORDER> <NEAR/2> (air, pollution)

NOT operator Searches for documents based on evidence not found in the documents.
The NOT modifier searches for documents based on evidence not found in the documents. You can use the NOT modifier with a word or phrase to exclude documents that show evidence of that word or phrase. The NOT modifier can be used only with the operators AND and OR.
Simple Syntax
To find only documents that contain the words “cat” and “mouse” but not the word “dog”, enter the following:
cat, mouse <AND> <NOT> dog
Explicit Syntax
You can ensure documents that contain words that have a different connotation from what you intend are not retrieved. For example, the word “coke” may refer to “Coca-Cola”, as well as the interim product created during the coal-producing process. To retrieve documents that refer to “Coca-Cola” and not the coal interim product “coke”, enter the following:
(coke <AND> <NOT> coal)
PARAGRAPH operator Selects documents that include all of the search elements you specify within the same paragraph.
The PARAGRAPH operator selects documents that include all of the search elements you specify within the same paragraph. Valid search elements are two or more words or phrases. You can specify search elements in a sequential or a random order. Documents are retrieved as long as search elements appear in the same paragraph. To retrieve relevance-ranked documents that contain stemmed variations of the word “drug” and the phrase “cancer treating” in the same paragraph, enter the following:
drug <PARAGRAPH> cancer treating
To search for three or more words or phrases, you must use the PARAGRAPH operator between each word or phrase.
PHRASE operator Searches for information containing two or more words in the same phrase.
The PHRASE operator is a proximity operator used to search for information containing two or more words in the same phrase. A phrase is a grouping of two or more words that occur in a specific order. Following are examples of search syntax.
Simple Syntax
By default, two or more words separated by a space are considered to be a phrase in simple syntax. To search for relevance-ranked documents that contain the phrase “mission oak”, enter either of the following:
mission oak
mission <PHRASE> oak
Explicit Syntax
To search for documents containing the phrase “black and white”, you can enter the following:
“black and white”
SENTENCE operator Selects documents that include all of the search elements you specify within the same sentence.
The SENTENCE operator selects documents that include all of the search elements you specify within the same sentence. You can specify search elements in a sequential or random order. Documents are retrieved as long as search elements appear in the same sentence.
To retrieve relevance-ranked documents that contain stemmed variations of the words “American”, and “innovation” within the same sentence, enter the following:
american <SENTENCE> innovation
<SENTENCE> (american, innovation)
THESAURUS operator Expands the search to include the word you enter and its synonyms.
The THESAURUS operator selects documents that contain one or more synonyms of the word you specify. For example, to retrieve documents containing synonyms of the word “altitude”, enter the following:
<THESAURUS> altitude
The documents retrieved will include words such as “height” or “elevation”.

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