Search Command Reference

Search Command Reference

See Also:

Search Tips, Search FAQs, Search Basics, Search Problem-Solver

Complex Search Syntax

Search queries that use operators other than AND, OR, NOT, +, -, " (double-quotation marks), and parentheses () are part of the complex search syntax. You must precede complex search queries with VQL: and double-quote the search query. For example:

VQL:"[50] aniline, [10] textile, [80] \"dye technology\""

Note the double-quotes around the entire query and the backslashes that precede the double-quotes used within the query.

Summary: The yet2.com search engine can use a set of sophisticated commands that help you refine your search query.

Evidence Operators

Table 1. Evidence Operators

Command

Explanation

Example

SOUNDEX

Finds the word you enter, and one ore more words that "sound like" that word, or whose letter pattern is similar. Words must start with the same letter as the word you specify. Documents are not relevence-ranked unless you use the modifier <MANY>. See MANY.

<SOUNDEX> phenil

<MANY><SOUNDEX> phenil

Will not find "fenil."

STEM

Expands the search to find the word you enter and its variations. Don´t confuse <STEM> with <WILDCARD>. Not relevance-ranked unless you use the modifier <MANY>. See MANY.

<STEM> phenyl

<MANY><STEM> phenyl

You can force stemming by using single quotation marks:

´phenyl´

TYPO/N

Finds the word you enter and words that are similar. /N is a number that specifies the maximum number of errors between your search term and a matched term; 2 is the default value. Errors are calculated based on character insertion, deletion, or transposition. A query term specified with <TYPO/N> can have a maximum of 32 characters. Not supported for multi-byte character sets such as Kanji.

<TYPO/3>sweeping

Note: TYPO/N can take a substantial amount of time to execute because it must review all words and all variations on those words up to the maximum number of errors you specify.

WILDCARD

Matches WILDCARD characters in search strings. Certain characters also indicate WILDCARD. Not relevance-ranked unless you use the <MANY> modifier. See MANY. Don´t confuse <WILDCARD> with <STEM>. See STEM.

See Table 2 for examples.

WORD

Selects documents that include one or more instances of the specific word. Prevents stemming. Not relevance-ranked unless you use the <MANY> keyword. See MANY.

<WORD> pharmaceutical

<MANY><WORD> pharmaceutical

"pharmaceutical"

Double quotation-marks act to prevent stemming.

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Table 2. Wildcard Characters

Character

Function

?

Specifies any single alphanumeric character. For example, ???rose finds sucrose and levrose (but would not find dextrose). It is not necessary to use the <WILDCARD> operator when you use the ?. The parser ignores ? in a set ([ ]) or in an alternative pattern ({ }).

*

Specified zero or more alphanumeric characters, as in corp*, which finds "corporate," "corporation," and "corporeal." It is not necessary to specify the <WILDCARD> operator when you use the *. Do not use * to specify the first character of a wildcard string. The parser ignores * in a set ([ ]) or in an alternative pattern ({ }).

[ ]

Specifies one of any characters in a given set, as in:
<WILDCARD> 'c[auo]t'which locates "cat," "cut," and "cot." You must enclose the word that includes a set within a pair of backquotes ('). A set cannot contain spaces.

{ }

Specifies one of each pattern separated by commas, as in
<WILDCARD> ´bank{s,er,ing}´which locates "banks," "banker," "banking." You must enclose the word that includes the pattern in backquotes ('). A set cannot contain spaces.

^

Specifies one of any character not in the set, as in
<WILDCARD> ´st[^oa]ck´which excludes "stock" and "stack," but locates "stick" and "stuck."

-

Specifies a range of characters in a set, as in
<WILDCARD> ´c[a-r]t´which locates every three-letter word from "cat" to "crt."

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Proximity Operators

Proximity operators work on the relative location of specific words in the document.

Table 3. Proximity Operators

Command

Explanation

Example

NEAR

Selects documents where one search term is found close to another; the nearer, the higher the score.

satellite <NEAR> positioning
<NEAR> (satellite, positioning)

NEAR/N

Selects documents with search terms within N number of words of each other, where N is between 1 and 1024. The closer, the higher the score. Specify 1000 or higher without commas.

See ORDER for more information on the ORDER modifier.

satellite <NEAR/10> positioning
<NEAR/10>(satellite, positioning)

You can use <NEAR> with the <ORDER> modifier:

diver <ORDER><NEAR/20> kills <ORDER><NEAR/20> shark

Finds "diver kills shark" with the word in that order (and within 20 words of each other).

PARAGRAPH

Selects documents that contain two or more search terms within a single paragraph.

drug <PARAGRAPH> cancer treatment

drug <PARAGRAPH> (cancer, treatment)

PHRASE

Selects documents that contain the phrase you specify. A phrase is a grouping of two or more words that occur next to each other in a specific order.

aniline dye
(both words stemmed)

"aniline dye"
(neither word stemmed)

aniline <PHRASE> dye
(stemmed)

<PHRASE> (aniline, dye)
(stemmed)

<PHRASE> ("aniline, dye")
(not stemmed)

SENTENCE

Selects the documents that contain all the search terms within the same sentence (even in a random order)

You can use <SENTENCE> with the <ORDER> modifier. See ORDER for more information.

electronic <SENTENCE> actuator

<SENTENCE> (electronic, actuator)

<ORDER><SENTENCE> (electronic, actuator)
finds words in that order in the sentence.

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Concept Operators

Concept operators combine the meaning of search elements to identify a concept in a document.

Documents using concept operators are relevance-ranked.

Table 4. Concept Operators

Command

Explanation

Example

ACCRUE

Selects documents that include at least one of the search terms. The more search terms that are present, the higher the ranking.

computer <ACCRUE> laptop
computer, laptop
<ACCRUE> (computer, laptop)

Search terms are automatically stemmed using this syntax

ALL

Selects documents that include all of the search terms appearing after the operator. A score of 1.00 is assigned to each retrieved document. Similar to <AND>. Not relevance-ranked.

phenyl <ALL> pharmaceutical, medical

Finds documents that contain the stem "phenyl" and that contain both the words "pharmaceutical" and "medical."

AND

Selects only those documents that contain the search terms on both sides of the AND. Relevance-ranked.

phenyl AND pharmaceutical companies

ANY

Selects documents that contain at least one of the search terms, but the document does not need to contain more than one. A score of 1.00 is assigned each retrieved document. Similar to <OR>. Not relevance-ranked.

phenyl <ANY> pharmaceutical
<ANY> (phenyl, pharamceutical)

OR

Selects documents that include at least one of the search terms. A score is calculated for each retrieved document. Similar to <ANY>. Documents are relevance-ranked.

phenyl OR pharmaceutical OR medical

OR (phenyl, pharmaceutical, medical)

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Modifiers

Modifiers are used in conjunction with operators to change the standard behavior.

Table 5. Modifiers and Syntax

Modifier

Explanation

Valid Operators

Examples

MANY

Incorporates the density of search words in the calculation of the relevance score. <MANY> counts words, stemmed variations, and phrases, and produces a relevance-ranked score. The more occurrences of the search terms (its stems and variations), the higher the score. You cannot use <MANY> with <AND>, <OR>, <ACCRUE>, or relational operators.

WORD
WILDCARD
STEM
SOUNDEX
PHRASE
SENTENCE
PARAGRAPH

<MANY><WORD>virtual
<MANY>aniline dye

NOT

Excludes documents containing the words or phrases of the search.

Note: To use not as a search term, enclose "not" or its phrase in double quotation-marks.

all operators

cat <AND> dog <AND><NOT>pet

<ORDER> up "not" down

"up not down"

<PHRASE> (up, "not", down)

ORDER

Specifies the order in which search terms must occur in the document.

PARAGRAPH
SENTENCE
NEAR/N
ALL

president <ORDER> <PARAGRAPH> washington

<ORDER><SENTENCE> ("president", "washington")

<ORDER><ALL> (dog, cat, squirrel)
finds any instance of "cat" between "dog" and "squirrel."

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Table 6. Modifier Syntax 2

Modifier

Valid Operators

Examples

NOT

all operators

author <CONTAINS/NOT> don
author <STARTS/NOT> xxx

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Score Operators

Score operators and natural language operators affect how the search engine calculates scores for retrieved documents and enables you to specify search criteria using natural language syntax.

Table 7. Advanced Operators

Operator

Explanation

Example

COMPLEMENT

Score Operator. Calculates scores for documents matching a query by taking the complement (subtracting from 1) of the scores for the query´s search terms.

<COMPLEMENT> ("phenyl", "pharmaceutical")

Accrues the score of "phenyl" with the score of "pharmaceutical," and takes the complement of the result.

FREETEXT

Natural language operator. Interprets and scores documents using a derived expression. All retrieved documents are relevance-ranked.

You can combine the <FREE-
TEXT> operator with other operators.

<FREETEXT> ("Aniline dyes in textile preparation") AND pharmaceuticals

Note: Double quotation-marks are required. To include punctuation in the search term, escape it with a backslash character:

<FREETEXT> ("DuPont\´s aniline dyes in textiles")

PRODUCT

Score Operator. Calculates a score for documents matching the query by multiplying a document´s scores for each of the query´s search terms.

If a search on "phenyl" generated a score of .5 and a search on "pharmaceutical" generated a score of .75, the resulting score of the document would be .375.

<PRODUCT> ("phenyl", "pharmaceutical")

Note: Double quotation-marks prevent stemming.

SUM

Score Operator. Calculates a score for documents matching the query by adding the scores for the query´s search terms, to a maximum of 1.0.

If a search on "phenyl" generated a score of .5 and a search on "pharmaceutical" generated a score of .3, the resulting score of the document would be .8. If the same search generated a phenyl score of .5 and a search on "pharmaceutical" generated a score of .8, the resulting score of the document would be 1.0 -- the maximum.

<SUM> ("phenyl", "pharmaceutical")

Note: Double quotation-marks prevent stemming.

YESNO

Score Operator. Limits the search to only those documents matching a query, without the score of that query affecting the final scores of the documents. Essentially, either the document is in the result set, or it is not.

<YESNO> phenyl <AND> pharmaceutical

Includes documents with both "phenyl" and "pharmaceutical," but does no ranking based on "phenyl," and ranks only on instances of the word "pharmaceutical."

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Controlling Operator Precedence

Although search expressions are evaluated left-to-right, AND takes precedence over OR. For example, the search expression

a OR b AND c

finds documents that contain b and that contain c, or it finds documents that contain a.

You can change the interpretation by using parentheses:

(a OR b) AND c

finds documents that contain a or that contain b, and where either document also contains c.

When you nest parentheses, the parser starts with the innermost level. For example:

(a AND (b OR c)) OR d

first finds documents that contain b or c, and then where either document also contains a. Or, the expression finds documents that contain only d.

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Prefix and Infix Notation

You can use prefix notation with any operators except Evidence operators (SOUNDEX, STEM, WILDCARD, and WORD). All operators can use infix notation (an example of infix notation is a AND b).

Table 8. Prefix notation examples

Prefix notation

Finds...

AND (a, b)

Documents that contain a and that contain b.

OR (a, AND (b, c))

Documents that contain b and that contain c, or that contain a by itself.

Delimiters

The search engine uses the following delimiters:

Table 9. Delimiters

Delimiter

Meaning

< > angle brackets

Designate operators and modifiers. They are optional for AND, OR, and NOT. They are mandatory in all other cases.

" " double quotation-marks

To search for a word that is reserved as an operator (AND, OR, NOT for example), enclose the word in double-quotation marks. For example:

black "and" white TV

Otherwise, such a search would find documents containing the word "black" AND documents containing the words "white TV."

\ backslash

(sometimes called an escape character)

To include a backslash character in your search, insert two backslashes. For example, to search for C:\bin use the search term:

C:\\bin

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Special Characters

This is a list of special characters that you may need to precede with a backslash to use in your search.

, ( ) [ = > < ! ´ @ ' { } ]

Precede them with a backslash if thay are part of the keyword or phrase that you are searching for. You do not need to precede them with a backslash when you are using them as an operating part of a complex query. For example:

VQL:"<PRODUCT> ("phenyl", "pharmaceutical")"

This query uses angle brackets (< >), double quotation-marks ("), and a comma as an operating part of the query.

VQL:"<FREETEXT> ("John\´s reply was\,\"Hello.\"")"

This query uses an apostrophe, a comma, and double-quotes around the word "Hello," but they are not operating parts of the query -- they are parts of the string for which the query is searching.

Table 10. Entering special characters

To use this:

Type this:

"Hello"

\"Hello\"

John´s

John\´s

contains parentheses ( )

contains parentheses \( \)

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su_search_lang_commands

Table 1. Evidence Operators
Command	Explanation	Example
SOUNDEX	Finds the word you enter, and one ore more words that "sound like" that word, or whose letter pattern is similar. Words must start with the same letter as the word you specify. Documents are not relevence-ranked unless you use the modifier <MANY>. See MANY.	<SOUNDEX> phenil <MANY><SOUNDEX> phenil Will not find "fenil."
STEM	Expands the search to find the word you enter and its variations. Don´t confuse <STEM> with <WILDCARD>. Not relevance-ranked unless you use the modifier <MANY>. See MANY.	<STEM> phenyl <MANY><STEM> phenyl You can force stemming by using single quotation marks: ´phenyl´
TYPO/N	Finds the word you enter and words that are similar. /N is a number that specifies the maximum number of errors between your search term and a matched term; 2 is the default value. Errors are calculated based on character insertion, deletion, or transposition. A query term specified with <TYPO/N> can have a maximum of 32 characters. Not supported for multi-byte character sets such as Kanji.	<TYPO/3>sweeping Note: TYPO/N can take a substantial amount of time to execute because it must review all words and all variations on those words up to the maximum number of errors you specify.
WILDCARD	Matches WILDCARD characters in search strings. Certain characters also indicate WILDCARD. Not relevance-ranked unless you use the <MANY> modifier. See MANY. Don´t confuse <WILDCARD> with <STEM>. See STEM.	See Table 2 for examples.
WORD	Selects documents that include one or more instances of the specific word. Prevents stemming. Not relevance-ranked unless you use the <MANY> keyword. See MANY.	<WORD> pharmaceutical <MANY><WORD> pharmaceutical "pharmaceutical" Double quotation-marks act to prevent stemming.

Table 2. Wildcard Characters
Character	Function
?	Specifies any single alphanumeric character. For example, ???rose finds sucrose and levrose (but would not find dextrose). It is not necessary to use the <WILDCARD> operator when you use the ?. The parser ignores ? in a set ([ ]) or in an alternative pattern ({ }).
*	Specified zero or more alphanumeric characters, as in corp, which finds "corporate," "corporation," and "corporeal." It is not necessary to specify the <WILDCARD> operator when you use the . Do not use * to specify the first character of a wildcard string. The parser ignores * in a set ([ ]) or in an alternative pattern ({ }).
[ ]	Specifies one of any characters in a given set, as in: `<WILDCARD> 'c[auo]t'`which locates "cat," "cut," and "cot." You must enclose the word that includes a set within a pair of backquotes ('). A set cannot contain spaces.
{ }	Specifies one of each pattern separated by commas, as in `<WILDCARD> ´bank{s,er,ing}´`which locates "banks," "banker," "banking." You must enclose the word that includes the pattern in backquotes ('). A set cannot contain spaces.
^	Specifies one of any character not in the set, as in `<WILDCARD> ´st[^oa]ck´`which excludes "stock" and "stack," but locates "stick" and "stuck."
-	Specifies a range of characters in a set, as in `<WILDCARD> ´c[a-r]t´`which locates every three-letter word from "cat" to "crt."

Table 3. Proximity Operators
Command	Explanation	Example
NEAR	Selects documents where one search term is found close to another; the nearer, the higher the score.	satellite <NEAR> positioning <NEAR> (satellite, positioning)
NEAR/N	Selects documents with search terms within N number of words of each other, where N is between 1 and 1024. The closer, the higher the score. Specify 1000 or higher without commas. See ORDER for more information on the ORDER modifier.	satellite <NEAR/10> positioning <NEAR/10>(satellite, positioning) You can use <NEAR> with the <ORDER> modifier: diver <ORDER><NEAR/20> kills <ORDER><NEAR/20> shark Finds "diver kills shark" with the word in that order (and within 20 words of each other).
PARAGRAPH	Selects documents that contain two or more search terms within a single paragraph.	drug <PARAGRAPH> cancer treatment drug <PARAGRAPH> (cancer, treatment)
PHRASE	Selects documents that contain the phrase you specify. A phrase is a grouping of two or more words that occur next to each other in a specific order.	aniline dye (both words stemmed) "aniline dye" (neither word stemmed) aniline <PHRASE> dye (stemmed) <PHRASE> (aniline, dye) (stemmed) <PHRASE> ("aniline, dye") (not stemmed)
SENTENCE	Selects the documents that contain all the search terms within the same sentence (even in a random order) You can use <SENTENCE> with the <ORDER> modifier. See ORDER for more information.	electronic <SENTENCE> actuator <SENTENCE> (electronic, actuator) <ORDER><SENTENCE> (electronic, actuator) finds words in that order in the sentence.

Table 4. Concept Operators
Command	Explanation	Example
ACCRUE	Selects documents that include at least one of the search terms. The more search terms that are present, the higher the ranking.	computer <ACCRUE> laptop computer, laptop <ACCRUE> (computer, laptop) Search terms are automatically stemmed using this syntax
ALL	Selects documents that include all of the search terms appearing after the operator. A score of 1.00 is assigned to each retrieved document. Similar to <AND>. Not relevance-ranked.	phenyl <ALL> pharmaceutical, medical Finds documents that contain the stem "phenyl" and that contain both the words "pharmaceutical" and "medical."
AND	Selects only those documents that contain the search terms on both sides of the AND. Relevance-ranked.	phenyl AND pharmaceutical companies
ANY	Selects documents that contain at least one of the search terms, but the document does not need to contain more than one. A score of 1.00 is assigned each retrieved document. Similar to <OR>. Not relevance-ranked.	phenyl <ANY> pharmaceutical <ANY> (phenyl, pharamceutical)
OR	Selects documents that include at least one of the search terms. A score is calculated for each retrieved document. Similar to <ANY>. Documents are relevance-ranked.	phenyl OR pharmaceutical OR medical OR (phenyl, pharmaceutical, medical)

Table 5. Modifiers and Syntax
Modifier	Explanation	Valid Operators	Examples
MANY	Incorporates the density of search words in the calculation of the relevance score. <MANY> counts words, stemmed variations, and phrases, and produces a relevance-ranked score. The more occurrences of the search terms (its stems and variations), the higher the score. You cannot use <MANY> with <AND>, <OR>, <ACCRUE>, or relational operators.	WORD WILDCARD STEM SOUNDEX PHRASE SENTENCE PARAGRAPH	<MANY><WORD>virtual <MANY>aniline dye
NOT	Excludes documents containing the words or phrases of the search. Note: To use not as a search term, enclose "not" or its phrase in double quotation-marks.	all operators	cat <AND> dog <AND><NOT>pet <ORDER> up "not" down "up not down" <PHRASE> (up, "not", down)
ORDER	Specifies the order in which search terms must occur in the document.	PARAGRAPH SENTENCE NEAR/N ALL	president <ORDER> <PARAGRAPH> washington <ORDER><SENTENCE> ("president", "washington") <ORDER><ALL> (dog, cat, squirrel) finds any instance of "cat" between "dog" and "squirrel."

Table 6. Modifier Syntax 2
Modifier	Valid Operators	Examples
NOT	all operators	author <CONTAINS/NOT> don author <STARTS/NOT> xxx

Table 7. Advanced Operators
Operator	Explanation	Example
COMPLEMENT	Score Operator. Calculates scores for documents matching a query by taking the complement (subtracting from 1) of the scores for the query´s search terms.	<COMPLEMENT> ("phenyl", "pharmaceutical") Accrues the score of "phenyl" with the score of "pharmaceutical," and takes the complement of the result.
FREETEXT	Natural language operator. Interprets and scores documents using a derived expression. All retrieved documents are relevance-ranked. You can combine the <FREE- TEXT> operator with other operators.	<FREETEXT> ("Aniline dyes in textile preparation") AND pharmaceuticals Note: Double quotation-marks are required. To include punctuation in the search term, escape it with a backslash character: <FREETEXT> ("DuPont\´s aniline dyes in textiles")
PRODUCT	Score Operator. Calculates a score for documents matching the query by multiplying a document´s scores for each of the query´s search terms. If a search on "phenyl" generated a score of .5 and a search on "pharmaceutical" generated a score of .75, the resulting score of the document would be .375.	<PRODUCT> ("phenyl", "pharmaceutical") Note: Double quotation-marks prevent stemming.
SUM	Score Operator. Calculates a score for documents matching the query by adding the scores for the query´s search terms, to a maximum of 1.0. If a search on "phenyl" generated a score of .5 and a search on "pharmaceutical" generated a score of .3, the resulting score of the document would be .8. If the same search generated a phenyl score of .5 and a search on "pharmaceutical" generated a score of .8, the resulting score of the document would be 1.0 -- the maximum.	<SUM> ("phenyl", "pharmaceutical") Note: Double quotation-marks prevent stemming.
YESNO	Score Operator. Limits the search to only those documents matching a query, without the score of that query affecting the final scores of the documents. Essentially, either the document is in the result set, or it is not.	<YESNO> phenyl <AND> pharmaceutical Includes documents with both "phenyl" and "pharmaceutical," but does no ranking based on "phenyl," and ranks only on instances of the word "pharmaceutical."

Table 8. Prefix notation examples
Prefix notation	Finds...
AND (a, b)	Documents that contain a and that contain b.
OR (a, AND (b, c))	Documents that contain b and that contain c, or that contain a by itself.

Table 9. Delimiters
Delimiter	Meaning
< > angle brackets	Designate operators and modifiers. They are optional for AND, OR, and NOT. They are mandatory in all other cases.
" " double quotation-marks	To search for a word that is reserved as an operator (AND, OR, NOT for example), enclose the word in double-quotation marks. For example: `black "and" white TV` Otherwise, such a search would find documents containing the word "black" AND documents containing the words "white TV."
\ backslash (sometimes called an escape character)	To include a backslash character in your search, insert two backslashes. For example, to search for C:\bin use the search term: C:\\bin

Table 10. Entering special characters
To use this:	Type this:
"Hello"	\"Hello\"
John´s	John\´s
contains parentheses ( )	contains parentheses \( \)


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