What are the
advanced search syntax operators, such as Boolean, phrasing, and wildcard
methods?
Increasing the accuracy of a search can be accomplished by using special
search query operators supported by siteLevel.
By default, if a search query is entered without any arguments between the
words, each words must be present in a document in order for it to show up
on the results list. Here is a chart of Boolean arguments and some
examples of each:
AND
+ (plus)
siteLevel supports the AND
argument, or the + (plus)
which requires the word be present
in a document in order for it to qualify as a matching result. In the
example below, the words central,
park,
and the phrase "new york"
must all be present in a document in order for it to show up on the
results page.
The the example below, the words
William and Jefferson
must both be present in a document in order for it to show up on the
results page.
NOT
- (minus)
As important as it might be to require a
word to exist in a search query, it may be just as important to provide
words that you do not want to be
present in a search. This is where the
NOT
argument, or the - (minus)
comes in handy. This often helps visitors remove documents by specifying
words that may not have relevancy to their search. In the example below,
the words central
and park
are required, however, the word
mime must not be present in order for a
document to show up on the results page.
The same thing can be accomplished with + and - operators in the example
below.
OR
| (pipe)
The
OR argument, or the | (pipe)
is a condition that states that the word or phrase can be present (and
thus give it a higher relevancy ranking), but it is not required for a
document to show up on the results page. This argument is useful to
include additional search query parameters without completely removing
other candidate matches. In the example below, the word search
is required, but the word term
is not -- however, if it is present in a document, it will score a higher
relevancy.
"phrase search"
Searching for phrases means that the words
between the quotes must show up in that exact order, adjacent to one
another. In the example below, the complete phrase "Detroit Rock City" must be present in a
document in order for it to show up on a results page. Having the words
Detroit, Rock,
or City
on the document is not enough -- the words must be in the exact word
order as provided between the quotation marks.
Wildcard *
Searching with wildcards allows a query to search for a partial match
of a word. The conditions are that a wildcard can only appear at the end
of a search term, and at least two characters must be provided before the
wildcard * (asterisk) argument.
In example below, all matching documents that contain words that begin
with the characters De and contain
the word Miller will show up on
the search results page:
Examples of words that satisfy the De*
wildcard search term are: Detroit,
Dennis, Dean, and
Demolition.
This page is part of the Shiflet Family Genealogy Website and is maintained by:
Julia Crosswell / Fort Worth, TX / 1998 - 2006
Robert Klein / Pasadena, MD / 2008 - present