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.
-
phrase search
The search engine supports three types of phrase search.
-
To match an exact
phrase, use quotes around the phrase
Example: "free search engine"
-
To match a near
(within a couple of words) phrase, use square
brackets [around the words]
Example: [free search engine]
-
To match a far
(within several words) phrase, use braces { around
the words }
Example: {free search engine}
-
+ 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
-
* 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*
-
? wildcard
If a query word contains a ? any character will match
that position.
Example: b?g
-
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*