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Search Help
To find an entry in the database, enter a word into any search box and click on the "Submit Query" button.
For a more specific search, you can
- Enter search terms in more than one search box to look for records that meet both criteria
- Enter more than one word in a search box. Between the words you can enter
- & connector to look for the overlap between two terms.
- ! connector to look for one word but not the other.
- A space (i.e., no connector) to look for two or more words treated as a phrase.
To make your search broader, you can
- Enter fewer terms in fewer boxes.
- Use the asterisk (*) symbol alone or at the end of a word to serve as a wildcard.
- Use the forward slash (/) for 'OR' between words to select records that have any of the words you entered.
For complex searches, enter multiple words or terms in the search boxes related to your query. You can use the following symbols to show the relationships between the terms:
- Ampersand (&) means 'AND'
- Forward slash (/) means 'OR'
- Exclamation point (!) means 'NOT'
Searching for Dates
When searching for dates, you can retrieve a specified date even if the format you use in the query differs from that stored in the textbase. For example, you can find the same set of records by searching for June 1998 or 6-98. The retrieved records might include entries such as those shown below.
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1998-Jun
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12-Jun-1998
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June 1998
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Comparisons and Range Searches
You can include the operators shown below when searching the index for a numeric field or date field.
| = | Equal to or exact | =1998 |
| > | Greater than | >5500 |
| >= | Greater than or equal to | >=5500 |
| < | Less than | <1-Jan-1998 |
| <= | Less than or equal to | <=1-Jan-1998 |
| : | Within range | 1995:1998 |
Truncation Searches
Use the truncation symbol (*) to find words, phrases, or terms that start with the specified characters. To search for a word, place the asterisk at the
end of the search string. For example, the search stop* will find words such as
stop, stops, or stopping. Do not use an asterisk at the beginning or in the
middle of the item.
Truncation searches are intended to be used when searching for text information, not dates or numbers. For example, a search for 10* will find 10 but not 100.
When searching for dates or numbers, you should not use truncation.
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