Help:Advanced Searches in the Wiki



The following list of Boolean expressions can be used in the Basic Search and Advanced Search:

AND
Type the word AND between two words that you want to search for. This will search for articles that contain both "word1" AND "word2" in an article. If you type a sequence of words without the operator AND between them, the search conducted by the Wiki in the Basic Search or Advanced Search is the same as if you had typed AND. Examples:


 * word1 AND word2
 * word1 AND word2 AND word3
 * word1 word2 word3
 * word1 word2 word3

OR
Type the word OR between two words that you want to search for. This will search for articles that contain either "word1" or "word2". Examples:
 * word1 OR word2
 * word3 OR word4
 * word3 OR word4

NOT
Type the word NOT between two words to search for articles that contain "word1" but would exclude articles that also contained "word2". Another option is to use the hyphen in place of the word NOT. Examples:


 * word1 NOT word2
 * word1 -word2
 * word1 -word2

Parentheses
You can control the search order with parenthetical expressions by using the parentheses. Example:


 * 1) ((word1 AND word2) OR word3)

Wild Cards
The asterisk and the question mark can be used as wild cards in a search. Use the asterisk in place of one or more characters at the end of a word. Use the question mark to take the place of a single character in a word. Examples:

Note that you can use more than one "?" in a word. Example: phr??e
 * 1) birt* - this will return articles that contain the words that begin with "birt" such as birth, births or birthday ...
 * 2) fa?e - this will return articles that contain the words face, fame and fate ...

Phrase Search
Text with double quotes implies a phrase search. Use this type of search when you need to find an article that includes the exact phrase you are looking for. Examples:


 * 1) "new york city"
 * 2) "california birth records"
 * 3) "family history library"

Mixing Advanced Features
All the Boolean search features can be mixed together to for added strength in searching for articles. Examples:


 * 1) ((word1 AND word2) AND NOT word*) - this search will return articles that contain word1 and word2, but will not include articles that also contain words that start with "word" like "words", "wordy", or "worded".
 * 2) word1 OR word2 -"phrase search" - this search will return articles that contain word1 or word2, but will not include articles that also contain "phase search".