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Match Any Words: This type of search assumes that spaces between words are treated like the logical or, meaning that results may contain just one of the words or possibly all of the words from your query. The search congress economy policy would return all stories containing the word congress or the word economy or the word policy. Keep in mind that this type of search can produce large search results.
Match This Exact Phrase: This mode assumes that the space between words requires that the words be adjacent to each other and in the exact order in which you enter them. Use this type of search if you are sure the exact phrase, such as electronic banking, must occur in the stories you are looking for.
Advanced: Boolean operators such as and, or, not and near can be used anywhere in any type of search. In the list of search types offered, the logic of the boolean connectors is used, but in some cases you do not need to enter the actual connector(s).
Instead of having spaces automatically interpreted as logical connectors, you enter the precise operators you want. You may also combine different operators in one search statement.
For more explanation of the search syntax, see the sections below on Boolean Operators and Wildcard Characters.
| More on Boolean Operators |
Boolean operators permit you to create more complex queries and can be combined with Wildcards and Proximity Operators. To formulate a more complex query that combines boolean operators, select Advanced as your Search Type on the search form. See the list below for examples.
| OPERATOR | DEFINITION | EXAMPLE |
| and | both terms must be present in the story. | congress and economy and policy |
| or | ether term must be present in the story. | parliament or government |
| but, butnot | The word(s) following this operator cannot be present in the story | bill and gates not microsoft |
| More on Wildcards |
Wildcard characters can be used to match a set of possible characters at any point in a word.
| OPERATOR | DEFINITION | EXAMPLE |
| ! | Fills in any number of ending characters | pollut! |
| * | Fills in a maximum of any five characters | gorba*v |
| ? | Fills in any single character | wom?n |
| { } | Finds suffixes specified in brackets | liv{e es ing} |
| Controlling Sort Order |
From Newest to Oldest: Will return the found stories in reverse chronological order. Stories that were most recently published will appear at the top of your result list.
From Oldest to Newest: Will return the found stories in chronological order. Stories that were most recently published will appear at the bottom of your result list.
By Relevance: Will return the found stories in an order that best matches the search terms you have requested. The more frequently these terms appear in a story, the higher its rank in the result list will be.