Specifying search terms
1. The long rectangle for entering words is called an edit box. Up to 15 search terms may be entered into the edit box for a simple search. Up to 15 search terms may be entered into each of the edit boxes within an advanced search.
2. Use standard keyboard characters to enter each search term. A search term is usually a single word, but it may be any combination of letters and digits, that is, the following eight-bit ASCII characters without accents: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Limited punctuation characters are allowed within a search term (embedded apostrophe, hyphen, period, comma within number, dollar sign). Question mark and asterisk are used for wild cards. Double quotes may embrace two or more words that make up an exact phrase. A space is expected between each search term.
3. A single apostrophe is allowed inside a term (examples: worker's, child's), but not at the beginning or end of a term where an apostrophe might be confused with a single quote.
4. Hyphens are allowed inside a term (examples: high-level, bed-and-breakfast, 123-482-998), but not at the beginning or end of a term.
5. Periods are allowed inside a term (examples: G.K, www.abcd.org, 432.1), but not at the beginning or end.
6. Commas are allowed inside a numeric term (examples: European 756,82, American 1,297,721), but not within words and not at the beginning or end of a term.
7. A dollar sign is allowed at (and only at) the beginning of a numeric term (examples: $1,234.87 or $53).
8. Quotation marks may occur in pairs around terms that must appear as an exact phrase (example: "Jacob Smith", "ultra high octane fuel"). Quotation marks can only be used in pairs -- beginning double quote and ending double quote. A quotation mark may have next to it only a blank, a letter, a digit, or the beginning or end of the edit box.
9. An asterisk may be used as a wild card anywhere within a search term. An asterisk represents a series of letters or digits. The series may be any length -- 0, 1, 2, 3, or more letters/ digits. Example 1: beaut* would call up records containing beautiful, beautify, beauty, beautician. Example 2: *relev* might yield relevant, relevance, irrelevant, irrelevance, etc. An asterisk may have next to it only a blank, a letter, a digit, or the beginning or end of the edit box. An asterisk cannot appear alone; there must be letters and digits within the search term.
10. A question mark may be used as a wild card to represent exactly one letter or digit. For example, ??voc* would call up records with two letters before the root voc ( which means "to call"). These might include advocate, invocation, revocation, etc. With three question marks as in ???voc*, words like convocation, provocative, and univocal would be included in the search. A question mark may have next to it only a blank, a letter, a digit, or the beginning or end of the edit box OR another question mark. A question mark cannot appear alone; there must be letters and digits within the search term.
11. The advanced search offers an alternative to quotation marks. An Exact phrase may be requested by entering the phrase without quotation marks in one of the four levels within an advanced search. Check the circle beside "Exact Phrase".
12. Search terms that are too long are not acceptable. No word or search term may exceed 64 characters in length.
Why another search engine? Here is why.
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