EPLS - Excluded Parties List System
EPLS - Excluded Parties List System
 
Advanced Search Tips

The following information is provided to assist in performing searches on EPLS.



Term Modifiers
The search engine supports a wide range of searching options.

Wildcard Searches

To perform a single character wildcard search use the "?" symbol.

To perform a multiple character wildcard search use the "*" symbol.

The single character wildcard search looks for terms that match that with the single character replaced. For example, to search for "text" or "test" you can use the search:

  te?t  

Multiple character wildcard searches looks for 0 or more characters. For example, to search for test, tests or tester, you can use the search:

  test*  

You can also use the wildcard searches in the middle of a term.

  te*t  

Note: You cannot use a * or ? symbol as the first character of a search.


Fuzzy Searches

To do a fuzzy search use the tilde, "~", symbol at the end of a Single word Term. For example to search for a term similar in spelling to "roam" use the fuzzy search:

  roam~  

This search will find terms like foam and roams


Proximity Searches

Finding words are a within a specific distance away. To do a proximity search use the tilde, "~", symbol at the end of a Phrase. For example to search for a "john" and "doe" within 10 words of each other in a document use the search:

  "john doe"~10  


Boolean operators
Boolean operators allow terms to be combined through logic operators. We supports AND, "+", OR, NOT and "-" as Boolean operators(Note: Boolean operators must be ALL CAPS).

OR

The OR operator is the default conjunction operator. This means that if there is no Boolean operator between two terms, the OR operator is used. The OR operator links two terms and finds a matching document if either of the terms exist in a document. This is equivalent to a union using sets. The symbol || can be used in place of the word OR.

To search for documents that contain either "john doe" or just "john" use the query:

  "john doe" john  

or

  "john doe" OR john  

AND

The AND operator matches documents where both terms exist anywhere in the text of a single document. This is equivalent to an intersection using sets. The symbol && can be used in place of the word AND.

To search for documents that contain "john doe" and "jane doe" use the query:

  "john doe" AND "jane doe"  

+

The "+" or required operator requires that the term after the "+" symbol exist somewhere in a the field of a single document.

To search for documents that must contain "doe" and may contain "john" use the query:

  +doe john  

NOT

The NOT operator excludes documents that contain the term after NOT. This is equivalent to a difference using sets. The symbol ! can be used in place of the word NOT.

To search for documents that contain "john doe" but not "anonymous" use the query:

  "john doe" NOT "anonymous"  

Note: The NOT operator cannot be used with just one term. For example, the following search will return no results:

  NOT "john doe"  

-

The "-" or prohibit operator excludes documents that contain the term after the "-" symbol.

To search for documents that contain "john doe" but not "anonymous" use the query:

  "john doe" -"anonymous"  


Grouping

The search engine supports using parentheses to group clauses to form sub queries. This can be very useful if you want to control the boolean logic for a query.

To search for either "john" or "doe" and "anonymous" use the query:

  (john OR doe) AND anonymous  

This eliminates any confusion and makes sure you that anonymous must exist and either term john or doe may exist.



Escaping Special Characters

Escaping special characters that are part of the query syntax. The current list special characters are

+ - && || ! ( ) { } [ ] ^ " ~ * ? : \

To escape these character use the \ before the character. For example to search for (1+1):2 use the query:

  \(1\+1\)\:2  

This eliminates any confusion and makes sure you that anonymous must exist and either term john or doe may exist.