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- Stemmed Search
The search engine implicitly interprets single words you enter as stemmed words.
Example: To search for documents containing the word “film” and its stem words, enter the word “film” using simple syntax: film
Result: Retrieved documents will contain search element and/or stemmed variations, i.e., “films,” “filmed,” and filming” are stemmed variations of the word “film.”
- Words Enclosed with Quotes
When you enclose individual words in double-quotation marks (“), the search engine interprets those words literally.
Example: Enter the word “petition” explicitly in double-quotation marks: "petition"
Result: Retrieved documents will contain the specific search element. The stemmed variations such as the words “petitions,” “petitioned,” and “petitioning” are not considered in the search.
- Case Sensitivity
The search engine attempts to match the case-sensitivity provided in the query expression when mixed case is used. For search terms entered completely in lower-case or completely in upper-case, the search engine looks for all mixed-case variations. Search terms entered with mixed case automatically become case-sensitive.
Example: Enter the word Apple
Result: Query will find only the precise string “Apple” whereas a query on APPLE finds all of the following: APPLE, Apple and apple.
- AND, OR & NOT
Boolean searches allow you to combine words and phrases using the words AND, OR, NOT and NEAR (otherwise known as Boolean operators) to limit, widen, or define your full text search.
Left and right angle brackets (< >) are reserved for designating operators and modifiers. Brackets are optional for AND, OR and NOT, but are required in all other cases.
Example for AND Operator: To select documents which contain stemmed variations of the phrase “gas company” and stemmed variations of the words “rate” enter the following: gas company AND rate
Result: Only those documents that contain both search elements, or stemmed variations of them (e.g., gas companies” “rate”) are retrieved
Example for OR Operator: To select documents that contain stemmed variations of the word “stranded” or “transmission line” or “tv” enter the following: tv OR transmission line OR strand
Result: Only those documents that contain at least one of the search elements or a stemmed variation of at least one of them are retrieved.
Example for NOT Modifier: Use the <NOT> modifier with a word or phrase to exclude documents that show evidence of that word. To select only documents that contain the words “stranded” and “expropriate” but not the word “tv” you would enter: stranded <AND> expropriate <AND> <NOT> tv
Result: Only those documents that contain the search elements “stranded” and “expropriate” are retrieved; documents that contain the word “tv” will not be retrieved.
- Near/N: This operator selects documents containing two or more words within N number of words of each other, where N is an integer.
Example: To retrieve documents that contain stemmed variations of the words “audit” and “analyses” within five words of each other, enter the following:
audit <NEAR/5> analyses
Result: Documents that contain “audit” and “analyses” within five words of one another are retrieved.
- Paragraph: This proximity operator specifies the relative location of specific words in the document; that is, specified words must be in the same paragraph to be retrieved. Valid search elements are two or more words or phrases.
Example: To retrieve documents that contain stemmed variations of the word “electric” and the phrase “Consolidated Edison” in the same paragraph, enter the following: Consolidated Edison <PARAGRAPH> electric
To search for three or more words or phrases, you must use the <PARAGRAPH> operator between each word or phrase.
Result: Documents are retrieved as long as search elements appear in the same paragraph.
- Sentence: The <SENTENCE> proximity operator specifies the relative location of specific words in the document; i.e., must be in the same sentence to be retrieved. Valid search elements are two or more words or phrases.
Example: To retrieve documents that contain stemmed variations of the words “electric” and “analyses” within the same sentence, enter the following: electric <SENTENCE> analyses or <SENTENCE> (electric, analyses)
To search for three or more words or phrases, you must use the <SENTENCE> operator between each word or phrase.
Result: Documents are retrieved as long as search elements appear in the same sentence.
If you need more specific instructions, please call our Document Management Help Desk at 518-474-3204