Online Search Tips Following is a list of the PLWeb search operators and brief descriptions of how they will help you build a search.
- AND
- Boolean AND logic operator. Searches for records containing both of the words it separates.
- OR
- Boolean OR logic operator. Searches for records containing either of the words it separates.
- NOT
- Boolean NOT logic operator. Searches for records containing the query word preceding it without containing the word following it.
- NEAR
- NEAR operator. Functions as bi-directional proximity operator if word range (e.g. deficit near/3 spending) is specified. If no word range is specified, functions as bi-directional adjacency operator.
- ADJ
- Adjacency operator. Searches for records in which the query word that follows it appears immediately after the word preceding it.
- W/n
- Proximity operator. Searches for word pairs in which the pair's second term occurs within a specified number of words after the first. Example: amphibian W/5 DNA finds records in which DNA occurs withinfive words after amphibian.
- ?
- Wildcard operator for a single character; matches any one character.
- *
- Wildcard operator for strings; matches any string. Examples: micro* matches microscope, microcomputer; *late matches relate, translate.
- +
- Stemming operator; forces a word stem (if search stemming is off). Example: run+ finds run, runs, and running.
- #
- Exact match operator; forces an exact word match (if search stemming is on). Example: run# finds run, but not runs or running.
- @
- Thesaurus operator; replaces the word before the operator with its synonyms from the thesaurus. Example: satellite@ is replaced by synonyms listed for satellite in the thesaurus.
- !
- Concept operator; automatically generates a list of words related to the word before the operator; searches for, retrieves, and ranks all records containing those related words; hit words are highlighted.
- Field-Restricted Searches
- :field
- Field restriction operator for a single word in the query; specifiesthat the word before the colon is to be searched only against field. Example: smith:author specifies that the author field is to be searched for the query word smith.
- /F:
- field1, field2...Field restriction operator for the entire query; specifies that the entire query is to be searched against fields. Example: kirk douglas/F:text, author, title specifies that kirk and/or douglas need to be in either the text, author, or the title field for the record to be retrieved.
- field=num
- Numeric match operator; specifies that field must exactly match num, where num is a non-negative number. Example: year=1982 requires the contents of the year field to contain 1982.
Africans in America: Home | Resource Bank Index | Search | Shop
![]()
WGBH | PBS Online | ©