Search Guide
Simple Search
Simple searches find entries that include all of the search terms.
Search results are ranked and displayed 25 sites at a time. The sites
that are displayed are grouped by their category. For example, a
search on :
C++
will return all the sites that have the word C++ in them. Searches
with multiple terms will automatically insert an "and"
between all the terms, so that only sites with all of the search words
in them will be returned. For example, a search on
golf clubs
will only return sites that have both golf and clubs in the
sites name and description. Sites on "tennis clubs" or
"golf balls" will not be displayed (unless they also mention
golf and clubs).
Phrase Search
Sometimes the order of the search terms matters. Using phrase
searching can greatly reduce the number of sites that are matched by a
search. For example if you searched for:
"Tour de France"
You would only get sites that had the three words: tour, de and France
in them in that order.
Search Defaults
All searches use and as the default linking operator between
all of the search terms. Thus searching for
red herring
is the same as searching for:
red and herring
For both of these searches, only those sites with "red" and
"herring" in the site name or description will be returned.
Sites that only mention "red" but not "herring"
will not be displayed. To get sites with either "red" or
"herring" use the keyword or. See the next section on
using boolean operators.
Boolean Search
There are several boolean operators to choose from, they are: or,
and, and andnot. Terms linked by the and operator
will return only those sites that match all of the search terms linked
by the and operator. This is the default, if you don't use any
boolean operators, then only those sites that contain at least one
occurrence of each search term will be returned..
Terms linked by the or operator will return those sites that
match any of the search terms linked by or. For example:
grey or gray and parrot
Terms linked by the andnot operator will exclude all sites
that match the search term following the andnot. For example:
random andnot house
will find sites about randomness, but exclude sites about the
publisher, Random House.
Wildcard Search
The search can do some limited wildcarding. Specificly, wildcard
completion. This is useful when you are trying to match a term that
may or may not be plural or might have one of several verb tenses. For
example if you wanted to find sites that had to do with bicycling you
might use the following search:
Bicycl*
This would match sites on Bicycling, Bicycle, and Bicycles.
The search does not support arbitrary wildcards, so searches on
"*cycling" or "Arch*ology" will not work.
Shorthand Search Terms
You can prefix search terms with "-" and "+"
to force the exclusion or inclusion of that term. This is really just
shorthand for using the andnot and and boolean
operators.
The following example will return all the sites on baseball, except
those that mention "umpire."
+baseball -umpire
Note: You cannot begin a search with a "-" term.
You must put some other search term first.
Complex Search
You can mix and match the above search methods to create very complex
searches. This search will return all sites on Lego trains, but
exclude all the links that mention Duplo:
lego train* andnot duplo
This search will find references to racing, except those that are
about racing cars or motorcycles.
racing -auto -car -motorcycle -road -nascar
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