NormPeterson
Esteemed member
Apologies if this is already there and I’m just not seeing it, but is it possible to add some basic help text to the Search page? Maybe there is something in the site builder reference or Search plugin(?) that officially states what is available. If not, I’ve played around a bit and found the following curiosities:
Searches are for whole words. The search with “naphtha” will not find the post where the only use is something like: “... light or heavy naphthas ...”. Likewise, searches for “naphthas” won’t find “... light naphtha or heavy naphtha...”.
Search ignores words shorter than 3 characters. Searching “THP” will not find posts about “The Herbal Peculator”, but searching “THP*” will find posts with “THP” (plus others with words beginning with “thp”). Searching “cybs max ion tek” gives the same results as just searching “cybs”.
The following methods can be used to narrow your search results:
Phrase Search: You can use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase.
e.g. to find posts about “light naphtha” but not added discussion about light colored product try: “light naphtha”
Exclude Terms: You can exclude a term by using a minus symbol before the word you want excluded.
e.g. to find posts specifically about “light naphtha” try: light naphtha -heavy
"OR" Search: You can find postings with one or multiple terms by using the vertical bar symbol between words.
e.g. to find posts about naphtha given two common spellings try: naphtha | naptha
Grouping: You can group terms together in parenthesis when queries are complicated.
e.g. to find posts about “light naphtha” spelled either way try: light (naphtha | naptha)
Wildcards: You can search for different forms of a word by using the star symbol.
e.g. another way to find posts about naphtha with alternate spellings try: nap*tha
e.g. to find posts that may be abbreviated or plural try: nap* (matches naph. or naphtha or naphthas)
Searches are for whole words. The search with “naphtha” will not find the post where the only use is something like: “... light or heavy naphthas ...”. Likewise, searches for “naphthas” won’t find “... light naphtha or heavy naphtha...”.
Search ignores words shorter than 3 characters. Searching “THP” will not find posts about “The Herbal Peculator”, but searching “THP*” will find posts with “THP” (plus others with words beginning with “thp”). Searching “cybs max ion tek” gives the same results as just searching “cybs”.
The following methods can be used to narrow your search results:
Phrase Search: You can use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase.
e.g. to find posts about “light naphtha” but not added discussion about light colored product try: “light naphtha”
Exclude Terms: You can exclude a term by using a minus symbol before the word you want excluded.
e.g. to find posts specifically about “light naphtha” try: light naphtha -heavy
"OR" Search: You can find postings with one or multiple terms by using the vertical bar symbol between words.
e.g. to find posts about naphtha given two common spellings try: naphtha | naptha
Grouping: You can group terms together in parenthesis when queries are complicated.
e.g. to find posts about “light naphtha” spelled either way try: light (naphtha | naptha)
Wildcards: You can search for different forms of a word by using the star symbol.
e.g. another way to find posts about naphtha with alternate spellings try: nap*tha
e.g. to find posts that may be abbreviated or plural try: nap* (matches naph. or naphtha or naphthas)
