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Tips for Searching
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At its simplest, a query can be just a word or a phrase. But with the tips
on this page, you can expand the focus of your query to give you more complete results.
These tips will get you started with basic query language and acquaint you with the full
power of the search facility.
Look for words with the same prefix. For example, in your query form
type key* to find key, keying, keyhole, keyboard,
and so on.
Search for all forms of a word. For example, in the form type sink**
to find sink, sinking, sank, and sunk.
Search with the keyword NEAR, rather than AND,
for words close to each other. For example, both of these queries, system and
manager and system near manager, look for the words system
and manager on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned pages
are ranked in order of proximity: The closer together the words are, the higher the rank
of that page.
Refine your queries with the AND NOT keywords to
exclude certain text from your search. For example, if you want to find all instances of surfing
but not the Net, write the following query:
surfing AND NOT the Net
- Add the OR keyword to find all instances of either one word or another,
for example:
Abbott OR Costello
This query finds all pages that mention Abbott or Costello or both.
Put quotation marks around keywords if you want the search to take them
literally. For instance, if you type the following query:
"system near manager"
The search will literally look for the complete phrase system near manager. But
if you type the same query without the quotation marks:
system near manager
the search searches all documents for the words system and manager.
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