Search Tips
Boolean Search
Boolean search terms may be used in the general search bar at the top of our site. The default is a 'Keyword' search, so you must open the dropdown menu and select the 'Boolean' search option. The boolean search operators are inherited from the RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) used in the persistence of our platform, and, as such, these operators differ from boolean search systems with which you are likely accustomed.
Operators
The boolean operators are symbols that may be applied to a term as either a suffix or a prefix.
- [No Operator], ie. spaces or adjacent words, are simply treated as an 'OR'.
- '+' stands for 'AND', and it will require that term's presence in each search result record.
- '-' stands for 'NOT'. It may be novel to you, as it will ignore records containing the affixed term in their searchable data.
More Information
For a more complete explanation and several more operators, please visit the documentation for fulltext boolean search in MySQL. It is more technical than the above descriptions, but understanding the material will give you even more ways to leverage the boolean search if you so desire.