Search Tips

Tips for Searching

Note: to get results like from a Google search, you must put AND between each word. The default is to search for the actual phrase you enter.

Our search engine supports boolean queries and wildcards, as well as some limited regular expressions. Words separated by spaces are treated as a phrase so that the whole phrase must be matched. You can use the following to create boolean matches:

along with parenthesis, and the '#' character for wildcard matching.

See our Full Search page for more options.

Example boolean queries:

will match documents containing the words "tree" and "leaf" anywhere in the document

will match documents containing the words "tree" and "leaf" but not the word "binary"

will match documents containing the phrase "open source" or the word "shareware"

Example use of wildcard #:

will match 'language' and 'languages' but not 'slang' or 'clangs'. This is different than checking the 'partial match' box in the query form, which would match all three patterns.

will match all patterns mentioned above - 'languages', 'language', 'slang' and 'clangs'. This is the same effect as checking the 'partial match' box (when using the Full Search page), but checking the box would be faster.

will match patterns like www.anything.com

When using complex queries like the above, you may sometimes get matches to code inside HTML tags instead of to the visible text in the file. To avoid this, check the "Use Filters" box in the search options form. (You should always check this box when searching non-ascii type documents, like PDF or Word files. If you don't see it on the form, it may have been automatically checked for you in a hidden tag.)

	will match documents containing the words "tree" and "leaf" anywhere in the document

	will match documents containing the words "tree" and "leaf" but not the word "binary"

	will match documents containing the phrase "open source" or the word "shareware"

	will match 'language' and 'languages' but not 'slang' or 'clangs'. This is different than checking the 'partial match' box in the query form, which would match all three patterns.

	will match all patterns mentioned above - 'languages', 'language', 'slang' and 'clangs'. This is the same effect as checking the 'partial match' box (when using the Full Search page), but checking the box would be faster.

	will match patterns like www.anything.com

Homer L. Dodge Departmentof Physics and Astronomy The University of Oklahoma

Search Tips

Tips for Searching

Note: to get results like from a Google search, you must put AND between each word. The default is to search for the actual phrase you enter.

Example boolean queries:

Example use of wildcard #:

Homer L. Dodge Department
of Physics and Astronomy
The University of Oklahoma