Search Tips from Freefind

By default the search engine tries to locate pages which have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages which contain any words in your search query. If that happens a short message is displayed at the top of the search results indicating this has been done. In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior.

Phrase Search

The search engine supports three types of phrase search.

• To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase. Example: "free search engine"
• To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]. Example: [free search engine]
• To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words }. Example {free search engine}

Qualifiers: + and -

• If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page. Example: +always (the search result pages would contain the word "always")
• If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page. Example: -never (the search result pages would not contain the word "never")

Wildcards: * and ?

• If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match. Example: gift* (search would return pages that had words starting with "gift" (e.g. gifted, gifts, gift, gifter, gift-giving, etc)
• If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position. Example: b?g (search results would return pages that contain words such as "big, "bag", "beg", etc)

Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT

• Boolean operators must be in all capital letters.
• The AND operator requires that both of two options are true. Example: Hamilton AND Smith (this search would return pages with the words "Hamilton" as well as "Smith" but not pages with only one or the other)
• The OR operator requires only one of two options to be true. Example: Watson OR Sherlock (this search would return pages that had either "Watson" or "Sherlock" or pages that contained both words)
• The NOT operator requires that the search results do not contain the searched words. Example: shaken NOT stirred (the search results would return pages that only contained "shaken" but not pages that contained "stirred" or pages that contained both words)

Searches can use more than one of the boolean operators. Example: S?nny AND Cher*