Search Experiments

[Richard M.]

I've been experimenting with the new Boolean Search functions. I've included the text from the Search FAQ below for easier reference.

There are a few things that may help using the AND, OR, and NOT functions. For example, if using multiple terms, enclose in parentheses for more meaningful results.

E.G. when searching Titles only..........this will find all Thread titles with 1953 to 1962 or variations of C1 and the word, "bearing"

Keyword: bearing AND (*C1* OR C-1* OR "C 1 " OR 195* OR 196*) NOT (1963 OR 1964 OR 1965 OR 1966 OR 1967 OR 1968 OR 1969)

Result Header......... Type: Posts; Keyword(s): bearing, (*C1* or "C-1*" or "C 1 " or 195* or 196*), not (1963 or 1964 or 1965 or 1966 or 1967 or 1968 or 1969)



Note, I've seen some odd results when experimenting with variations of %, * and "", and where they are located in the keyword box. e.g. If *C1* is directly after a parenthesis, it works, if not you will get a character limit error. %C1% appears to work anywhere. Use * with caution.

Rich

=== From FAQ
How do I search for something?

To quickly find a thread or post of interest anywhere on the bulletin board, click on the 'Search' link in the navigation bar at the top of most forum pages. Then, type in the keyword or phrase you wish to search for, and select either 'Show Threads' or 'Show Posts' to view the results. By selecting posts, you will be shown only the actual post in which the search word appears.

New in the upgraded TDB is the ability to do Boolean searches.
Boolean Search

• Basic Boolean Search Operators - AND
  • Using AND narows a search by combining terms; it will retrieve documents that use both the search terms you specify, as in this example:
  • Brakes AND 1962
  
  
  • Basic Boolean Search Operators - OR
  
  
  • Using OR broadens a search to include results that contain either of the words you type in. OR is a good tool to use when there are several common spellings or synonyms of a word, as in this example:
  • 1966 OR 1967 OR 1968
  
  
  • Basic Boolean Search Operators - NOT
  
  
  • Using NOT will narrow a search by excluding certain search terms. NOT retrieves documents that contain one, but not the other, of the search terms you enter, as in this example:
  • Brakes NOT Shoes
  
  For more control over the search, select 'Advanced Search' from the drop-down box. The advanced search page allows you to restrict your search to individual forums, find posts or threads by user, or return results based on tags (?). There are also options to find posts from a certain date, or threads with a certain number of replies.
  How do I search a specific forum or thread?
  If you are browsing a forum, you can quickly search for a thread or post within it by clicking on the 'Search this forum' link near the top of the page (it's above the list of threads). You can also search for individual posts within a thread by clicking on the 'Search this Thread' link at the top of any thread view page.
  

What is the minimum word length (4) and how do I find what I want?

In order to limit the load on the server you should not search on words less than four characters in length. If you need to find phrases with short words you can work around this.
You can't search on "Big Block" because "Big" has only three letters. You can substitute a percent sign (%) for the space and create a word that is 9 characters long. "Big%Block". This will work on any phrase that you might need to find. Be sure to include the " (quotation marks) for best results
For single words or acronyms with less than 4 characters you may need to use an * asteric. %FI doesn't work, but *FI does.

[Richard M.]

Re: Search Experiments

More experiments......I went to the vBulletin website, searching that forum itself, and it seems that even the software developers are seeing odd behavior with searching. They all were asking for some form of syntax usage help but no one seems to have access to documentation. I can see where it gets confusing for those of us who try to use these features.

Here are a few more things I've learned. Note I blue boldfaced the different keywords to make it easier to follow. Sorry I know this is a lot of info but it may help in your future searches. I find myself using the search more often these days now that I'm reassembling a '59 here. I really like the new Boolean Search!


Quoted strings and parentheses. Be careful here when using complex searches. Results can be misleading.

E.G. I tried this search, selecting Titles Only.......
"wheel bearing" AND (*C1* OR C-1* OR "C 1 " OR 195* OR 196*) NOT (1963 OR 1964 OR 1965 OR 1966 OR 1967 OR 1968 OR 1969)
Result:
Type: Forums, Posts; Keyword(s): "wheel bearing", (*C1* or "C-1*" or "C 1 " or 195* or 196*), not (1963 or 1964 or 1965 or 1966 or 1967 or 1968 or 1969)


It listed too many Titles(3360+) and they all did NOT have the phrase "wheel bearing" in them. Most had neither of the words! It Resulted with "wheel bearing" in the Result list, but it obviously didn't get the correct results. I suspect some vBulletin search software limitations or improper syntax in my keywords or ???.

===

I then tried this. Note the parentheses enclosing "wheel bearing".....

("wheel bearing") AND (*C1* OR C-1* OR "C 1 " OR 195* OR 196*) NOT (1963 OR 1964 OR 1965 OR 1966 OR 1967 OR 1968 OR 1969)

Result:
Type: Forums, Posts; Keyword(s): ("wheel, bearing"), (*C1* or "C-1*" or "C 1 " or 195* or 196*), not (1963 or 1964 or 1965 or 1966 or 1967 or 1968 or 1969)

It listed 2 Titles, they both had proper results with the phrase "wheel bearing" in them.
===

I then tried this. Used the AND function and parentheses.

("wheel AND bearing") AND (*C1* OR C-1* OR "C 1 " OR 195* OR 196*) NOT (1963 OR 1964 OR 1965 OR 1966 OR 1967 OR 1968 OR 1969)

Result:
Type: Forums, Posts; Keyword(s): ("wheel, bearing"), (*C1* or "C-1*" or "C 1 " or 195* or 196*), not (1963 or 1964 or 1965 or 1966 or 1967 or 1968 or 1969)

It listed 2 Titles, they both had proper results with the phrase "wheel bearing" in them.
===

I then tried this. Used the AND function and parentheses, no quotes.

(wheel AND bearing) AND (*C1* OR C-1* OR "C 1 " OR 195* OR 196*) NOT (1963 OR 1964 OR 1965 OR 1966 OR 1967 OR 1968 OR 1969)

Result:
Type: Forums, Posts; Keyword(s): (wheel, bearing), (*C1* or "C-1*" or "C 1 " or 195* or 196*), not (1963 or 1964 or 1965 or 1966 or 1967 or 1968 or 1969)


It listed 9 Titles, they had interesting results. Some with the phrase "wheel bearing" in them, some with just "bearing".
===

It appears that parentheses will be your friend when searching here on the TDB. Use wisely!

Rich

[Joe R.]

Re: Search Experiments

Rich,

Strong work! I'll file this one away for future use!

Joe