Here is what I have put together as a first draft. Please note (and fill in
if possible) certain gaps in my knowledge; and please make corrections and
suggestions of examples.
Setting Successful Search Criteria
If a search-word is typed in all lowercase, words with both lowercase and
capitals will be selected; if a search-word is typed with an Initial Cap, or
in ALL CAPS only words matching that case style will be included.
Using "ANY" and "ALL"
Use "ALL" when you want your search results to cite pages in which every
word listed is found on the page cited; In this case, do not separate your
terms by using "AND", "OR" or "NOT": If "All" is selected, using the Boolean
terms "AND", "OR", "NOT" will cause the search to fail.
Use "ANY" when you want your search results to cite pages in which any or
all of the words listed is found on the page cited.
Use "ANY" when a search using "ALL" or "Boolean" has failed to produce
results.
Use Boolean Logic to narrow a search.
The ht//Dig search engine uses a simple parser (a set of rules for
recognizing types of items in a document (words, numbers, HTML tags, URLs,
etc) and sorts them into units that a program is able to manipulate ?)
that knows how to deal with "AND", "OR", "NOT" and parenthesis. The result
of the parser is one match criteria.
If "Boolean" is selected make sure each word is separated by an "AND", "OR",
or "NOT". These must be fully capitalized, no "quotation marks" (And note
that "AND" in this instance means "both" or "all words", while "OR" means
"either" or "any word").
AND
word AND word = both words must appear in the document;
Examples: San AND Francisco, First AND Lastname, Boolean AND Logic
Example: (include an example that will work properly for your data)
OR
word OR word = use this to find variations on or expansions of a word or
concept, documents with either word will appear in the search results
Examples: cooks OR chefs; cooks OR recipes; recipes OR cookies
Example: (include an example that will work properly for your data)
NOT
word NOT word = Note that the operator "NOT" is used as the word 'without'
and requires a search-word on either end: You cannot write "cat AND NOT dog"
or just "NOT dog" but you can write "cat NOT dog".
Examples: stocks NOT soups; bonds NOT bail; bail NOT hay
Example: (include an example that will work properly for your data)
Using Parenthesis to "nest" parameters
word AND (word NOT word); will cite pages where the first word and the first
word within the parenthesis but not the second word within the parenthesis
occur.
(word OR word) AND word; will cite only those pages where either of the two
words in parenthesis occur along with the last word
These are two basic formats; this aspect of a Boolean search can become much
more complicated
Examples: San AND (Francisco NOT Fran); ((Los AND Angeles) OR LA) AND smog
Example: (include an example that will work properly for your data)
Boolean Logic
Boolean Logic is a symbolic logic system named after Afaik Boole, an English
(?Occupation ---) who wrote an article called "An Investigation in the Laws
of Thought" (1854), which dealt with "classes" (which are ) which was
the basis for the work of _______ Shannon, (a Country of Origin,
Occupation ------?) which proved that Boole's logic could be used with
relays and switches, which is only a short hop, skip and a jump to linking
words together in various ways to sharpen the focus of searches.
Best Wishes!
Michael Olds
Los Altos California
www.BuddhaDust.org
ICQ#94992160
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