Basic Searches

In a default search (i.e., one where neither + nor - is specified), the words are optional but records containing the words are marked as having a higher relevancy.

A leading plus sign indicates that the word MUST be present in each record returned.

A minus sign indicates that the word MUST NOT be present in each record returned.

An asterisk indicates a wildcard character and returns all variations of the word preceeding the * mark.

john doe : returns records containing "john" or "doe"

+john doe : returns all records containing the word "john" with "doe" being optional

+john -doe : returns all records containing "john" but not "doe"

+john* doe : returns all records containing variations of "john" (i.e., "john," "johnny," "johnathon"...) with "doe" being optional

Advanced Searches

Greater than and less than symbols can be used before words to increase their value in the relevancy algorithm. > increases the value of the word while < decreases the value of the word.

Parentheses group words into substrings which are evaluated as a single word. A leading plus sign indicates that the word MUST be present in each record returned.

A tilda symbol negates the word which it preceeds causing the row's relevance to be negative. The row however, is returned as opposed to the stronger - symbol (see basic searches).

Words wrapped in double quotes are treated as a phrase although puncutation, stop words, and words shorter than the minimum length of 3 characters are ignored.

>john doe : returns records containing "john" or "doe" with those containing "john" at a higher relevance

<john doe : returns all records containing "john" or "doe" with those containing "john" at a lower relevancy

+john +(>doe <smith) : returns all records containing "john" and "doe" OR "john" and "smith" but ranks "john doe" higher than "john smith"

+john ~doe : returns all records containing "john" with records containing "doe" at a lower relevancy

"john doe" : returns all records containing the phrase in the exact order. This search would return records containing "john doe walks his dog," "the dog was walked by john doe," "I invited my two friends, john, and doe" but would not return "john heathcliff doe"