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Search operators |
Searching in DEVONthink already is a powerful function. The addition of Boolean operators, parentheses, and wildcards extend the power to fine-tune your search even further.
Case All terms are case-insensitive. You may, if you wish, use capitalization for proper names in a query, but DEVONthink will ignore case in interpreting the query. Precedence of terms Search terms and associated operators will be interpreted from left to right, except as modified by including portions of the query within parentheses. Wildcards You can replace parts of words with wildcards matching one, multiple, or a range of characters:
Boolean Operators The operators (often called Boolean operators) are words or symbols that establish logical rules for the terms in the search query. If no operator is given, DEVONthink infers AND. The available Boolean operators are:
Besides the classic Boolean operators, DEVONthink uses a number of operators that usually are found in high-end databases. Use these operators as a replacement for AND and "quotes" to fine tune your query.
For convenience, some of these operators can also be abbreviated using commonly used symbols:
Operators are evaluated in the following priority: parenthesis > phrase/hyphens > ( White Space Handling Words linked by non-white separators (e.g., Examples By using any or all of the operators and rules laid out above you can create complex queries that find the exact information you're looking for. Here are some example queries that show how the operators are used.
This query looks for all documents that contain the words "devonian" and "dinosaurs".
This query looks for documents that contain the words "Steve" and "Jobs" no farther ten words away from each other, as well as the word "iMac" (no specific position relative to Steve and Jobs), but not the word "MacBook". The word "Pro" does not need to occur, but if it does, the document is ranked higher in the list of search results.
This query looks for documents containing the word "Paracetamol" near (within 10 words) to words either starting with "effect" (and so also "effects") or "impact". In addition, the document needs to contain the word "side" or any word starting with "second" located within two words range of any word starting with "effect". |