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Boolian Searches
A Boolian search will get you much more specific
information.
Boolean expressions include words like OR, AND, AND NOT,
and NEAR used to create relationships among the keywords in
your search query. Parentheses ( ) can also be used in the
Boolean query box to group expressions similar to the way
you would group mathematical functions. Below is a list of
expressions with their corresponding symbol (you may use
either) and function.
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Expression
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Symbol
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Action
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AND
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&
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Finds documents containing all of the specified
words or phrases. peanut AND butter finds documents
with both the word peanut and the word butter.
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OR
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Finds documents containing at least one of the
specified words or phrases. Peanut OR butter finds
documents containing either peanut or butter. The
found documents could contain both items, but not
necessarily.
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AND NOT
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!
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Excludes documents containing the specified word
or phrase. Peanut AND NOT butter finds documents
with peanut but not containing butter. NOT must be
used with another operator, like AND. AltaVista
does not accept 'peanut NOT butter'; instead,
specify peanut AND NOTbutter..
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NEAR
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~
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Finds documents containing both specified words
or phrases within 10 words of each other. peanut
NEAR butter would find documents with peanut
butter, but probably not any other kind of
butter.
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() Use parentheses to group complex Boolean phrases. For
example, (peanut AND butter) AND (jelly or jam) finds
documents with the words 'peanut butter and jelly' or
'peanut butter and jam' or both.
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