Expert Search
- Select a database to search.
- Type your search string in the input box.
A search command, or query sting, is a line of text that consists of a combination of:
- Keywords
- Search categories
- Boolean Operators
- Parentheses
Keywords
Keywords are words found in any field that has been indexed for searches.
With keywords, you can specify left, right, or medial truncation and
wild card searches.
Example: Use an asterisk (*) to designate one or more characters
Ho* Virtua will find hose, host, hostess, etc.
Wa*n Virtua will find walton, warden, Washington, etc.
Example: Use a question mark (?) to designate a single character.
Use two question marks to designate two characters, and so forth
Ho? Virtua will find hop, hog, hot, etc.
Wa?n Virtua will find warn
w??en Virtua will find women, woven, Woden, etc.
Search Categories
a: author
pa: personal name
ca: corporate name
t: title
s: subject
tse: series title
p: publisher
pp: place of publication
nte: notes
g: general
aw: anywhere (ALL indexed fields)
nc: nature of content
Example:
a:Mark Twain
t:Paradise lost
aw:horses
Note: Capital or lower case letters can be used for designating
search categories
Search Operators
& AND
+ OR
- AND NOT
&xx Proximity, where x is a number that represents the number
of characters between the search words.
Example: t:cat &3 t:behavior
will find “Cat” within 3 characters of the term “behavior” in any
title. The search string would
return:
Cat behavior
Cats’ behavior
Cat’s behavior
Notes concerning proximity searching
- It is possible within ONE category only.
- It is possible between TWO terms only.
- The search operator OR has no inherent value in a proximity search
between two terms. Use OR only in a query string that contains parentheses.
- For a combination of terms, there is not operator precedence.
Parentheses
You can use parentheses anywhere within a query string to set precedence.
Example: To find books by either Richard Bachman or Stephen
King, you might use the string query. If parentheses are not used,
the software will apply operators from left to right.
(a:richard & a:bachman) + (a:king
& a:stephen)
Continue to Step Two: Viewing Records
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