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Advanced Search Tips
The Advanced Search system uses native MySQL Boolean Mode Full Text searching operators. This allows for the construction of sophisticated search strategies.
PREFIX OPERATORS
+
Use the plus sign in front of terms that must be present
e.g. +probation +community
would return items containing the words "probation" and "community" in any field
-
Use the minus sign in front of terms that must NOT be present
e.g. +community -health
would return items containing the word "community" but exclude any that also had the word "health" - again in any field.
OTHER OPERATORS
*
Use the asterisk as the truncation or wildcard operator
e.g. manag*
would return items matching manag and then any subsequent character - e.g. management, managing, manager etc
"
Use double quotes to enclose terms that form a phrase
e.g. "national offender management service" NOMS
would return items matching either "national offender management service" or NOMS but not (for example) "offender management service" or "national offender management".
PARENTHESES
Terms can be enclosed in brackets to determine the parse order or for term grouping.
e.g. +(drugs crime courts police probation) -(pharmacy paracetamol tennis badminton)
would return items matching at least one of "drugs","crime","courts","police","probation" but not items matching at least one of "pharmacy","paracetamol","tennis","badminton" - this being the beginnings of a general query on criminal justice but eliminating items on tennis or badminton courts or prescription drugs.
STOP WORDS
The list of default stop words is available on the MySQL website