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When indexing a database, Concordance Desktop uses several rules to determine what is a word and what is not. One of the rules is that a word ends when it encounters any character that is not a number or a letter. For instance, the space character would indicate that one word is ending and another is beginning. Some characters, like the decimal point and the comma in numbers or the slash in dates, do not indicate the end of a word. They are called embedded punctuation and are a part of the word.

The set of embedded punctuation recognized by Concordance Desktop during the indexing process is determined by what you enter in the Punctuation field. By default, Concordance Desktop recognizes the period (.), comma (,), forward slash (/), and the apostrophe ('). It does not include the hyphen. These characters are only considered part of a word if they are both preceded and followed by a letter or a number.

Changes to the punctuation list are kept with the database. Use any non-alphanumeric character except the space. For example, add @ if you want to search for e-mail addresses. Up to 10 punctuation characters can be entered. Changing the embedded punctuation in the Punctuation field does not update the dictionary. Index the database after modifying the Punctuation field to update the dictionary files.