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|
| | | Tips
for Searching | | |
| At its simplest, a query can be just a word
or a phrase. But with the tips on this page, you can expand the focus of your
query to give you more complete results. | | |
| • | Look for words with the same
prefix. For example, in your query form type key* to find key,
keying, keyhole, keyboard, and so on. | |
| |
| •
| Search for all forms of a word. For example, in the form
type sink** to find sink, sinking, sank,
and sunk. | | | |
| • | Search with the
keyword NEAR, rather than AND, for words close
to each other. For example, both of these queries, system and manager
and system near manager, look for the words system and
manager on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned
pages are ranked in order of proximity: The closer together the words are, the
higher the rank of that page. | | | |
| • | Refine your queries
with the AND NOT keywords to exclude certain text from your search.
For example, if you want to find all instances of surfing but not the
Net, write the following query: | | | |
| | surfing
AND NOT the Net | | | |
| • | Add the OR
keyword to find all instances of either one word or another, for example: |
| | | | | Abbott
OR Costello | | | |
| | This query finds all pages
that mention Abbott or Costello or both. | | | |
| • | Put quotation marks
around keywords you want taken literally. For instance, if you type the following
query: | | | |
| | "system
near manager" | | | |
| | your query will return
all results containing the exact phrase system near manager. Typing
the same query without the quotation marks: | | | |
| | system
near manager | | | |
| | returns all documents containing
the words system and manager near each other. | |
| |
| •
| Use Free Text Queries if you
want to enter queries using natural language. With free text queries you can enter
any text you want, from a proper question, to a string of words and phrases, without
worrying about the query language. For example, if you type in the following query: |
| | | | | "How
does Mpower flex content?" | | | |
| | a query will be created
and executed for you automatically. Note that when you're using free text queries,
the regular query language features are disabled and keywords such as AND,
OR, and NEAR are interpreted as normal words. |
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