Search Operators
Contents
Search operators allow you to formulate or write your own advanced queries to garner stronger search results from your case records. Once you learn to use search operators, you can advance to typing complex searches that will help you locate information that might otherwise takes hours of review to uncover.
Types of Search Operators in LAW:
•Document Level (Boolean) - Boolean operators are based on the binary logic used in computers today, producing strict true or false results. In CloudNine™ LAW, Boolean operators search at the document level. Boolean operators used in LAW include AND, OR, and AND NOT.
•Word Level (Proximity) - Proximity operators search at the word level and are useful when looking for content that appears in records either in direct succession or adjacent order, or in close succession to each other within a specified range. This number refers to the maximum number of intervening indexed words.
•Character level (Wildcards) - Wildcard operators are symbols you can use as a substitute for characters or series of characters in a search term, creating a broader search with stronger results. Using wildcard characters helps you locate:
oVariations on a root word
oPossible misspellings of a name or word
oWords or names that might include punctuation (apostrophes)
Searching in LAW is not case sensitive, so you do not have to enter all caps when typing in operators. You should type spaces between search terms and the operator (LayK AND LangW), except when searching with characters or using symbols and punctuation.
Search Operators
Search Operators |
||
|---|---|---|
Operator |
Query |
Results |
DOCUMENT LEVEL |
|
|
AND contains both words |
lay AND lang |
Finds all records with both the words: lay and lang |
OR contains either word |
lay OR lang |
Finds all records with either lay or lang, or both |
AND NOT contains first word, but not second |
lay AND NOT lang |
Finds all records with lay, but not lang |
WORD LEVEL |
|
|
w/5 |
lay w/5 lang |
Finds lay within five words of lang |
not w/12 |
lay not w/12 lang |
Finds lay where it is not within 12 words of lang |
w/5 xfirstword |
lay w/5 xfirstword |
Finds lay when it occurs in the first five words of a document |
w/5 xlastword |
lay w/5 xlastword |
Finds lay when it occurs in the last five words of a document |
LIKE |
LIKE deposition |
Finds synonyms from the thesaurus for the search term specified; might locate testimony |
% performs a fuzzy search |
Phil% |
Finds Phil, Philip, and Philllip * Fuzzy searching finds words even if they are misspelled. The position of the % character determines how many letters at the start of the word must match exactly. For example: ba%nana must begin with ba and have at most one difference between it and banana. The query: b%%anana finds words that begin with b and have at most two differences between it and banana. For more information, see Fuzzy Searching. |
# performs a phonic search |
#Smith |
Finds words that sounds alike, such as Smith and Smythe For more information, see Phonic Searching. |
~ stemming at the end of a word finds grammatical variations of a word |
manage~ apply~ |
Finds manager and management Finds applies, applied, applying For more information, see Stemming. |
& finds synonyms |
&fast |
Finds quickly For more information, see Synonym Searching. |
CHARACTER LEVEL |
|
|
? represents any character in its place in the character sequence |
wom?n ??99 10:?? |
Finds the following: woman, women Finds all dates in the year 1999 Finds all timeframes of 10:00 o'clock (a.m. or p.m.), i.e. 10:00, 10:42 |
= matches any single digit |
=55 =12 |
Finds all records that contain the number 55 Finds dates with the number 12, such as 12/01/2001 and 08/12/2005 |
* matches multiple characters |
Phil* |
Finds Phil, Philip |
## regular expression |
"##app.*ie" |
Finds apple pie Finds search terms that includes a combination of characters. A regular expression included in a search query must be in double quotes and must begin with ##. For more information, see Regular Expressions. |
NUMERIC |
|
|
< less than |
< 50 Florida < 32803 |
Finds numbers less than 50 Finds Florida followed by a number less than 32803 |
> greater than |
> 50 |
Finds numbers greater than 50 |
<= less than or equal to |
<=50 |
Finds numbers less than or equal to 50 |
>= greater than or equal to |
>=50 |
Finds numbers greater than or equal to 50 |
= equal to |
=50 |
Finds the number 50 |
<x and >x not equal to |
<50 and >50 |
Finds all numbers except 50 |
~~ numeric range |
10 ~~ 20 |
Finds any numbers between the two numbers, such as between 10 and 20 For more information, see Numeric Range Searching. |
TO |
10 TO 20 |
Finds numbers in text within the specified range * The TO operator requires numeric text before and after the operator. |