Advanced Find

Skip Contents.

• Extended Find
• Introduction
  • Accessibility
• Search Tips
  • Phrase Search
  • Qualifiers
  • Wildcards
  • Boolean Search
  • Combinations

Introduction

Search Engine technology from FreeFind... mostly... at the moment.

This page explains what the find facility is, how to use it in a simple and advanced manner, and provides a direct access to the advanced features for beginners.

"Find" is "Search" feng shui'd: You don't want to search for something, you want to find it! This is in a similar manner to the "Lost Property" notice at bath police Station becoming "Found Property".

As well as asking for a simple list of words to be present and highlighted in the list of pages found, you can specify partial words, words to be and not to be there, and phrases in varying degrees of proximity to other words.
Queries can be specified simply on any of the forms, complex queries spelt out on the direct form here, or complex queries put through any of the single-field forms using the syntax shown at the foot of this page. The syntax follow's all the usual Google®-like conventions and add's some more.

Note: The complex syntax will not work with the 'find in this page' function; that only highlight's the exact word or phrase entered, although it will work offline, whereas the 'find in whole site' function will only work online.

Accessibility

• '%' Repeatedly searches the current page.
• '$' Searches the whole [web]site.
• '?' Locates the search box, to type a new query.

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 normal search behaviour.
Use this on the normal search boxes for speed; use the advanced form above to specify a complex without having to learn this.

Phrase Search

Sequences of words can be matched by putting special characters around them:

• To match an exact phrase, put quotes around it.
  Eg "free search engine"
  only matches: free search engine
• To allow a few extra words inside the phrase, use square brackets around the words.
  Eg [free search engine]
  also matches: free the search engine programmers
• To tolerate lots of extra words, use braces.
  Eg {free search engine}
  also matches: free mean's no cost, but Google® charges for higher listings on it's search engine

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.
Eg +always -never

Wildcards

If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as it will match.
Eg gift*
Matches pages with gift, giftware, and gifts.

If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position.
Eg c?t
Matches pages with cat or cot.

Boolean Search

You can use the following boolean operators in your search:

AND

Only return's if all terms matched.
Eg eggs AND bacon

OR

Return's if any terms match.
Eg dogs OR cats OR turtles

NOT

Return's if there is no following match.
Usually used with brackets or phrase search.
Eg NOT late, NOT (bus OR train), NOT "lowest ever prices"

Brackets

Group's queries so they are tested out of order.
Bracketed terms are evaluated first.
Eg a OR b AND c
is the equivalent to: (a OR b) AND c
But a OR (b AND c)
is the equivalent to: b AND c OR a
Bracketing can shorten queries, and make them easier to read, edit, and type. Eg: NOT bus AND NOT train AND NOT plane AND NOT boat
is equivalent to: NOT (bus AND train AND plane AND boat)

These operators MUST be in capital letters. (Otherwise they will be treated as ordinary terms to search for.)

Combinations

All of these techniques can be combined.
Eg +alway* -ne??r* -{cheapest sale prices}

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