Thomas Doty – Storyteller

Search Doty's Writing

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Search Tips

By default the search engine tries to locate pages which have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages which contain any words in your search query. If that happens a short message is displayed at the top of the search results indicating this has been done.

In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior.

1. phrase search

   The search engine supports three types of phrase search.

   • To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase. Example: "coyote likes flashy women"

   • To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]. Example: [coyote likes flashy women]
     

   • To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words }. Example: {coyote likes flashy women}

2. + and - qualifiers

   If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.

   If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page. Example: +always -never

3. * wildcard

   If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match. Example: gift*

4. ? wildcard

   If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position. Example: b?g

5. boolean search

   You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters. Example: (contact AND us) OR (about AND us)

All of these techniques can be combined: +alway* -ne??r*

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