Advanced search

1 - What is advanced search?

Advanced search is a function that offers you the ability to target your search more precisely. The options that you choose only apply to your current search.

You can use each of the options described below if you wish, but remember, the more restrictions you place on your search, the fewer results you will obtain.

2 - What is the difference between advanced search and refine your search?

Advanced search and search refinement both allow a more specific target for your search, enabling you to find the most relevant results. Unlike advanced search, however, refining your search is done once you have already entered a search. Refining is done from the results page, whereas advanced search opens a new, pop-up window.

3 - How do I use the advanced web search?

The advanced search page consists of three basic themes: What, Where and When.

A) Enter your keywords in the top text entry field, formatting them using one of filtering options below, and then press the "Web Search" button.

B) In the What section, you may apply the following filters to refine your search:

• Exact phrase, ex: "to be or not to be". Search for the words in the exact order in which you have typed them. This is equivalent to placing string of words in quotation marks (" ").
• Exclude words, ex: cow -mad. This is done by placing a minus sign or dash (-) before the word you wish to exclude.
• Words starting with certain letters, ex: messag*. This will give results including any word beginning with the letters "messag", such as "messaging" and "messages". This is done by placing an asterisk (*) after the beginning word fragment.
• Phonetic spelling: ex: soundslike:exallead. This will give results sounding like the word you have entered. This works well when you don't know how to spell a word for which you wish to search.
• Approximate spelling, ex: spellslike:exlaead
• Adjacent words, ex: (market NEAR financial)
• Logical expressions, ex: ((fast OR speed) AND NOT light)
• Regular expressions, which allow you to search using flexible text matching patterns. For instance, the regular expression "c.p" uses a period (.) as a wildcard for representing all letters. It would return matches such as "cap," "cop" and "cup".

C) In the Where section, you may apply the following filters to refine your search :

• Choose a country
• Choose a language
• Search only on a specific site, ex: site:wikipedia.org
• Search only files of a specific format, ex: filetype:pdf
• Search page titles only for matching text, ex: intitle:(classical music)
• Search for keywords in the URL addresses of pages, ex: inurl:classical music
• Search for pages that contain a certain link, ex: link:http:www.exalead.com

D) In the When section, you may refine your search by limiting results to pages that have been updated before or after a date that you choose, by applying the following filters:

• Updated after a given date, ex: after:31/12/1999 (day/month/year format)
• Updated before a given date, ex: before:31/12/1999 (day/month/year format)

4 - How do I use the advanced image search?

Advanced image search offers you three categories of options for more narrowly targeting your search: What, Where and When. You may use each of the options if you wish, but remember, the more restrictions you place on your search, the fewer results you will obtain.

A) Enter your keywords in the top text entry field, formatting them using one of filtering options below, and then press the "Image Search" button.

B) In the What section, you may apply the following filters to refine your search:

• Basic size for the image: small, medium or large
• Images of a specific width, ex: width:1024
• Images of a specific height, ex: height:768
• Exact phrase searching, ex: "ocean at sunset"
• Excluded words, ex: cow -brown
• Search for words starting with certain letters, ex: water*. This will give results including any word beginning with the letters "water", such as "waterfall" and "waterway". This is done by placing an asterisk (*) after the word beginning.
• Phonetic spelling: ex: soundslike:exallead , this will give results sounding like the word you have entered. This works well when you don't know how to spell a word for which you wish to search.
• Approximate spelling, ex: spellslike:exlaead
• Adjacent words, ex: (market NEAR financial)
• Logical expressions, ex: ((fast OR speed) AND NOT light)
• Regular expressions, which allow you to search using flexible text matching patterns. For instance, the regular expression "c.p" uses a period (.) as a wildcard for representing all letters. It would return matches such as "cap," "cop" and "cup".

C) In the Where section, you may apply the following filters to refine your search:

• Choose a country
• Choose a language
• Choose to search within a specific site, ex: site:wikipedia.org

D) In the When section, you may limit your search to sites that have been updated since a date that you choose. Apply the following filters :

• Updated after, ex: after:31/12/1999 (day/month/year format)
• Updated before, ex: before:31/12/1999 (day/month/year format)

5 - How may I limit results to a specific date or period?

To limit results to a date, you only need to use the advanced search function. In the "WHEN" section, choose the appropriate filter.

6 - How may I limit results to the United States or another country?

To limit results to a specific country, use the advanced search function. In the "WHERE" section, choose the country you would like to target. You may also use the "refine your search" function.

7 - How may I limit results to certain types of documents?

To limit your search to a specific document format, use the "refine your search" function and choose the format you seek (Word, PDF, etc.).

8 - What does "Check the syntax of your request" mean?

When your search does not return any results, you can click on "Check the syntax of your request" to review a list of the various ways you can enter search terms in the Exalead search engine. Options such as searching for exact phrases, using boolean operators, or searching for phonetic matches may provide you with better results.