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Entering a Search Query

Search Examples

Searching

Search Operators

Synonyms

Searching by Fields

Field Names

Date Fields

Cautions

Entering a Search Query

• The search box (or query box) is at the top of each page.

• The Search link displays a page containing additional search options.

Enter words or phrases in the query box. Click on "Search" or press "Enter".

• By default, searches include both Documents and Metadata.
• Words, their inflectional variations, and synonyms will also be searched.
• Search terms are automatically combined (ANDed) together.

Search Examples

Search Query	Results will contain
cancer	cancer, cancers, and synonyms such as tumors
heart attack	heart and attack, as well as synonyms of "heart attack" such as "myocardial infarction"
"heart attack"	the literal words "heart attack" must be found
"heart attack"~3	stemmed variations of heart and attack within 3 words of each other
heat~	stemmed variations of heat and words whose spelling is similar such as heart, wheat, cheat, meat, etc.
heart*	words beginning with heart
crab OR lobster OR shrimp	any of the words crab, lobster, or shrimp
crab || lobster || shrimp	any of the words crab, lobster, or shrimp (same as above)
bank AND loan AND business	all of the words bank, loan, and business
bank +loan +business	all of the words bank, loan, and business (same as above)
bank && loan && business	all of the words bank, loan, and business (same as above)
bank NOT river	the word bank but not the word river
bank -river	the word bank but not the word river (same as above)
Title:smoking	Retrieve items with smoking in the Title field of the item's metadata. Many fields are searchable.
Date:[1954-01-01 TO 1960-12-31]	Retrieve items with terms within the range of 1954 to 1960.

Searching

Search Operators

Operator	Definition	Example
AND + &&	Intersection - Retrieve documents containing all words or phrases (and synonyms) connected by the AND operator. This is the default operator if none is specified	leukemia AND chemotherapy heart +lung heart && lung heart lung
OR ||	Union - Retrieve documents containing any of the specified words or phrases (and synonyms) connected by the OR operator	aspirin OR ibuprofen
NOT -	Difference - Retrieve documents that do not contain the word or phrase (and synonyms) following the NOT operator	Immunodeficiency NOT AIDS heart -kidney
" "	Multi-Word - Retrieve documents containing the exact word phrase as specified between the quotes (and synonyms)	"heart attack"
" "~4	Proximity - Retrieve documents containing the exact words separated by no more than the specified number of words (4 in this case)	"heart lung"~4
term~	Close To - Retrieve documents with terms that are close to (similar to) the specified term	java~ finds lava
term*	Wild Card - Retrieve documents with terms beginning with the specified characters	heart* finds heartache
[low TO high]	Range - Retrieve items with terms within the range of low to high. A value of * means lowest or highest respectively.	[1954 TO 1960]

Notes on Operators

• In search queries, most punctuation is ignored.
• AND is the default operator, retrieving items that contain all of the words entered, regardless of order. If you want to ensure that words are searched in a particular order, use the Multi-Word operator " ".
• Nesting: You can change the order in which search processes the AND and OR operators in your search query by using parentheses. The terms inside the set of parentheses will be processed as a unit and then incorporated into the overall search strategy.
• Complex query: Retrieves documents matching the logical expression.
  (heart +lung) OR (liver NOT kidney)
• The Field Specification operator allows you to narrow your search to particular parts of a document. For example, words or phrases immediately following Title: are searched only in the Title field. Thus, Title:(heart attack) will retrieve documents with heart and attack, and or their synonyms, in the Title field.
• If you wish to limit part of your search to some fields, and you do not wish to limit the rest of your search, enter all qualified terms first and unqualified terms afterward. Separate them with a Boolean operator (AND, OR, NOT). For example, Date:([1968-01-01 TO 1968-12-31]) AND smoking. For example, (Format:jpeg) AND (Rights:(public domain)) AND Lederberg

Synonyms

Often there are multiple names (synonyms) for a single concept (e.g., cancer of the colon, colonic neoplasm, colon cancer, etc.). Thus, searching automatically adds terms related to those you entered. For example, when using the phrase heart attack in a search, the related phrase myocardial infarction will automatically be added.

Searching by Fields

• The Search link displays a page containing additional search options, including searching by fields (Fielded Search) shown above. Fielded Search allows you to search within individual Metadata fields as well as within Documents (also known as Document Body).
• You can search by fields using the Field Specification operator (such as Title:medical) in the query box seen at the top of each page. Or you can use the Fielded Search page to build your search query.
• Entering values into multiple fields implies an AND of those fields. Enter your search criteria into one or more fields then select either of the Fielded Search buttons to initiate the search. If no values are entered into any of the search fields, the search page reappears.

Field Names

• A comprehensive list of searchable field names and a description of each field is available.
• The Fielded Search inserts field names for you, so you do not need to include field names in your search.
• When using the query box at the top of any page, or the basic search on the Search page, you may specify fields to search if you wish to limit your search to certain fields. If you do not specify any fields, all Metadata fields and the Document bodies will be searched by default.
• Most searchable fields contain searchable text words. A few searchable fields contain dates. More information on Date Fields is below.

Date Fields

• Date fields have two query boxes, allowing you to define a date range over which to search. The first date field query box (top most) represents the earliest date of the range. The second represents the latest date.
• Incomplete Date fields will have their missing values automatically provided. Starting dates will round to the start of the month (YYYY-MM-01) and/or start of the year (YYYY-01-01). Similarly, ending dates will round to the end of the month and/or the end of the year.
• The comparison operators next to each date field tells the search engine how to compare the associated date with the dates found in that field. The two dates in the range are each compared to the date found in the data field then the results are ANDed to determine if the date falls in that range.
• Only a single date needs to be specified if, for example, you are searching for items with a date on or after January 9, 1950 (>= 1950-01-09).

Date Comparison Operators:

Note: These operators are only available for Fielded Searches. They are selected using the pulldown list of operators associated with each Date Field.

Date Field Examples:

Cautions

• Search words are case-insensitive, except for search operator words which must be all upper case.
• Long queries may result in very long expanded queries, which may be truncated by the Web server. If this should happen, try searching fewer fields (e.g., only Metadata or only Documents). You may also choose to include the URL in the results display to see the result without highlights (and therefore avoiding truncation by the Web server).
• Incomplete Date fields will have their missing values automatically provided, depending on whether it is a starting or ending date. Starting dates will round to the start of the month (YYYY-MM-01) and/or start of the year (YYYY-01-01). Similarly, ending dates will round to the end of the month and/or the end of the year.
• Be careful when specifying complex queries with Field Specifications. For example, Title:heart attack is interpreted as Title:heart AND Metadata:attack. While Title:(heart attack) means Title:(heart attack).
• If you have trouble searching Date fields using the query box seen at the top of each page, try using the Fielded Search instead.
• Profiles in Science now uses the open source Solr/Lucene search engine. Saved queries formatted for the previous search engines may no longer work.