Query Language Help

Searching for a single term

This is the simplest form of search. Enter a single word or phrase, for example, if you enter Art in the Advanced Search box, you will find all resource records containing "Art" in any of the searchable fields.

Searching for part of a term

There are three wildcard characters which can be used to replace parts of terms.

* (asterisk)
The asterisk can be used to replace zero or more characters in a search term. For example, consult* will find records containing the terms consultancy, consultant, consulting etc.

? (question mark)
The question mark can be used to replace a single character in a search term. For example, consult??? will find consultant and consulting, but not consultancy.

[ ] (square brackets)
Square brackets can be used to specify alternative characters in a search term. For example, intern[ea]t* will find internet and international.

Search using Boolean operators (Simple help on Boolean algebra is available)

The Boolean operators and, or and not can be used to combine search terms. These operators must always be typed in lower case letters.

Boolean and
Use and to combine two or more search terms. For example, picasso and portraiture will find those resource records containing both picasso and portraiture.

Boolean or
Use or to combine two or more search terms. For example, picasso or portraiture will find those resource descriptions containing picasso or portraiture or both.

Boolean not
You can use the Boolean not to search for resource records which do not contain a specified term. For example, you might search for not portraiture. You can use not in association with and to form and not. In this case you can include one term and exclude another. picasso and not portraiture will find those resource records containing picasso that do not contain portraiture.

Searching for terms in proximity to each other

ADAM provides several ways of searching for terms which are either next to each other or within a few words of each other. (see also Proximity Search)

" " (quotes)
Enclosing a term or phrase in quotes will cause Index+ to search for the term or phrase exactly as it appears in the quotes. This is useful if you are looking for a phrase which contains one of the search operators. For example, "picasso and portraiture" will find the phrase picasso and portraiture wherever it appears in a particular field.

# (hash character)
The single hash character is used to link adjacent words in the order you enter them. For example, pablo # picasso will find records which contain the phrase pablo picasso.

#n (hash character and integer)
The single hash character followed by an integer (n) will find words which are within n words of each other and in the order you enter them. For example, interactive #2 software will find records which contain the phrases interactive software and interactive computer software.

## (double hash character)
The double hash character is used to link adjacent words, but in any order.

##n (double hash character and integer)
The double hash character followed by an integer (n) will find words which are within n words of each other and in any order.

Precedence

Index+ has rules for carrying out searches where more than one operator is present. Each operator has a precedence which determines the order in which it is processed. The operators with the highest precedence are processed first. The order of precedence of the operators is:
Boolean not
Proximity operators (#, ##)
Boolean and
Boolean or

You can override the precedence by using brackets (). Any operators in brackets will be processed first. For example, graphics and design or video will first find all resource records whose containing both graphics and design, then it will find all resource records containing video (Boolean and takes precedence over Boolean or). To find only resource records containing graphics and either design or video, use brackets to override the precedence: graphics and (design or video).