Standard search operators and wildcards

You can use standard search operators and wildcards in the Search for field or in entry fields in the Advanced Search to refine your search criteria.

Note: You cannot use any of the operators in the Search and Replace feature. However, you can use any of the wildcards, except for the [ ] wildcard.

Wildcards

Use wildcards to replace characters in a keyword where you want to find variants of the keyword.

Name	Symbol	Example	Description
Single character	?	d?g	The wildcard replaces exactly one character. In the example, the query will find documents that have words like dog, dig, or dug.
Multiple characters	*	dog*	The wildcard replaces any number of characters in the keyword. In the example, the query will find documents that have words like dog, dogs, dogged, or dog-eared.
Choice	[ ]	chat[,ting,ter]	The wildcard defines possible variations of the keyword. In the example, the query will find only the documents that have chat, chatting, or chatter.

Name

Symbol

Example

Description

Single character

d?g

The wildcard replaces exactly one character.

In the example, the query will find documents that have words like dog, dig, or dug.

Multiple characters

dog*

The wildcard replaces any number of characters in the keyword.

In the example, the query will find documents that have words like dog, dogs, dogged, or dog-eared.

Choice

[ ]

chat[,ting,ter]

The wildcard defines possible variations of the keyword.

In the example, the query will find only the documents that have chat, chatting, or chatter.

Operators

Use operators to join keywords.

Always leave space before and after any operators you use because the search engine ignores the text and space of these operators. For example, the search engine sees "DITA | XML" as "DITA XML" and "DITA-XML" or "DITA+XML" as "DITAXML".

Order of operation	Name	Symbol	Example	Description
1	Contiguity	" "	"small black dog"	Finds the exact phrase within the quotations. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the exact phrase small black dog.
2	Priority	( )	small + (dog \| cat)	Defines how operators should be grouped when searching. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the words small and either dog or cat.
3	Frequency	>	cat >5	Finds where the keyword appears a minimum number of times. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the word cat five times or more.
4	Near	NEAR	cat NEAR5 dog	Finds where one keyword appears within a set number of words from another keyword. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the word cat within five words of the word dog.
5	Adjacency	ADJ	cat ADJ5 dog	Finds where one keyword appears within a set number of words after another keyword. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the word cat followed by dog within five words. The order of the keywords is important for this operator.
6	Without	-	cat - dog	Finds where one keyword appears without the other keyword. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the word cat but do not contain the word dog.
7	And	+	cat + dog	Finds where both keywords appear. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the word cat and the word dog.
8	Or	\|	cat \| dog	Finds where one or both keywords appear. In the example, the query finds all documents that contain the word cat, the word dog, or both.