Query Language

The following is adapted from the Microsoft Index Server Guide.

This list gives the rules for formulating queries:

• Multiple words are treated as a phrase; they must appear in the same order within a matching document.
• You can type your query in uppercase or lowercase.
• You can search for any word except very common words, such as (for English), a, an, and, as, and others.
• Common words are treated as placeholders in phrase and proximity queries. For example, if you searched for “Science for Dummies”, the results could give you “Science for Dummies” and “Science and Dummies”, because for is considered a common word.
• Punctuation marks such as the period (.), colon (:), semicolon (;), and comma (,) are ignored during a search.
• To use specially treated characters such as &, |, ^, #, @, $, (, ), in a query, enclose your query in quotation marks (“).
• To search for a word or phrase containing quotation marks, enclose the entire phrase in quotation marks and then double the quotation marks around the word or words you want to surround with quotes. For example, “World-Wide Web or ““Web””” searches for World-Wide Web or “Web”.
• You can use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, and NOT) and the Proximity Operator (NEAR) to specify additional search information.
• The Wildcard Character (*) can match words with a given prefix. The query esc* matches the terms “ESC,” “escape,” and so on.

Boolean and Proximity Operators

Boolean and proximity operators can create a more precise query.

To Search For	Example	Results
Both terms in the same page	solar and microflares —Or— solar & microflares	Pages with both the words “solar” and “microflares”
Either term in a page	aerogel or xerogel —Or— aerogel | xerogel	Pages with the words “aerogel” or “xerogel”
The first term without the second term	propulsion and not tether —Or— propulsion & ! tether	Pages with the word “propulsion” but not “tether”
Both terms in the same page, close together	aurora near satellite —Or— aurora ~ satellite	Pages with the word “aurora” near the word “satellite”

Wildcards

Wildcard operators help you find pages containing words similar to a given word.

To Search For	Example	Results
Words with the same prefix	magnet*	Pages with words that have the prefix “magnet,” such as “magnet,” “magnetic,” “magnetar,” and so on
Words based on the same stem word	fly**	Pages with words based on the same stem as “fly,” such as “flying,” “flown,” “flew,” and so on