Using advanced search options

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Using advanced search options

Use advanced search options to control the scope of your search from any of the IBM Lotus Connections features. When performing an advanced search, you can search for single terms, such as "test" or "hello", or phrases, such as "test search" or "hello world". You can further refine the scope of your search by combining search terms with Boolean operators to create a more complex query. You can also perform wildcard searches and fuzzy searches, and group search terms using parentheses to form sub queries.
Search is not case-sensitive: uppercase and lowercase characters are equivalent.

Wildcard searches
A wildcard is a character that can be used to represent one or more other characters in a search term. Search supports single and multiple character wildcard searches within single terms, but not in phrases.
To perform a single character wildcard search, use the question mark character (?). The search engine looks for terms that match when the single character is replaced by another term. For example, if you enter
te?t

as a search string, the results might include information containing the terms "text" and "test".
To perform a multiple character wildcard search, use the asterisk character (*). This type of search looks for zero or more characters. For example, if you enter
test*

as a search string, the results might include information containing the terms "test", "tests", and "tester."
You cannot use either wildcard symbol as the first character of a search string.

Fuzzy search
A fuzzy search returns results that the search engine predicts might be relevant to your search term, even when the search term is not contained in the information returned. This type of search is useful because it can return relevant results even when a search term is misspelled or only partially spelled. You can also use fuzzy search to locate terms that are similar in spelling to a search term.
To perform a fuzzy search, include the tilde character (~) after your search term. For example, if you enter
clean~

as a search term, the search results might contain terms such as "lean" and "glean".

Search operators
Use the following operators to control the scope of your search.

Advanced search operators

Operator Description
OR Use this operator to search for content that contains the words "A" or "B".
This operator is the default search mode.
For example, if you enter
car or motorcycle

, Search returns information that contains either "car" or "motorcycle."
AND Use this operator to search for content where both terms exist anywhere in the text of a single document. By default, a space between keywords is treated as an AND.
For example, to search for information containing the text "car" and "motorcycle" enter the following query:
"car" AND "motorcycle"

+ Use this operator to combine search words. The plus sign operator is similar to the AND operator, but it applies only to the word immediately following it.
For example, to search for information that must contain "car" and can contain "motorcycle," enter the query
+car motorcycle

NOT Use this operator to exclude a word from your search. Results containing the word immediately following the NOT operator are excluded by the search.
For example, to search for information that contains "car" but not "motorcycle", enter the query
car NOT motorcycle

You cannot use this operator with a single term. For example, the query
NOT car

returns no results.
- Use this operator to exclude words from a search. The minus sign operator is the same as the NOT operator.
For example, to return results that contain "car" but not "motorcycle", enter the query
car -motorcycle

Grouping
Use parentheses to group search terms in clauses and further refine the scope of your search. For example, if you want to search for information that contains "plane" and "car" or "plane" and "motorcycle", enter the following query:
(car OR motorcycle) AND plane

Search overviews, how-tos, and FAQs

Related reference

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Search Tips | Advanced Search

Operator	Description
OR	Use this operator to search for content that contains the words "A" or "B". This operator is the default search mode. For example, if you enter car or motorcycle , Search returns information that contains either "car" or "motorcycle."
AND	Use this operator to search for content where both terms exist anywhere in the text of a single document. By default, a space between keywords is treated as an AND. For example, to search for information containing the text "car" and "motorcycle" enter the following query: "car" AND "motorcycle"
+	Use this operator to combine search words. The plus sign operator is similar to the AND operator, but it applies only to the word immediately following it. For example, to search for information that must contain "car" and can contain "motorcycle," enter the query +car motorcycle
NOT	Use this operator to exclude a word from your search. Results containing the word immediately following the NOT operator are excluded by the search. For example, to search for information that contains "car" but not "motorcycle", enter the query car NOT motorcycle You cannot use this operator with a single term. For example, the query NOT car returns no results.
-	Use this operator to exclude words from a search. The minus sign operator is the same as the NOT operator. For example, to return results that contain "car" but not "motorcycle", enter the query car -motorcycle