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Writing a query is a way to ask a question about a subject.
The way you ask questions in the form of queries determines which documents
will be returned. The simplest way is to enter words that describe the
subject you are interested in. The information below introduces how
to write queries using Verity search features, and covers:
How to Write Basic Queries 
You can write a basic query using words and phrases,
separated by commas. If you want to see documents about using
text editors to create Web documents, you can start with a single-word
query, such as:
editor
In this case, your query finds all the documents that
include the word "editor." However, this search would include not only
documents about text editors, but also documents about people who are
editors. Documents about the Web that did not include the word "editor"
would not be retrieved.
To ask for more specific results, you could enter several
words or phrases, separated by commas, that describe the
subject more precisely, such as:
text editor, document, web
In this case, your query finds documents that contain
"text editor," "document," or "Web." The most relevant documents, such
as those that discuss creating HTML documents for the Web using a text
editor, will appear at the top of the results list.
Note: You don't have to specify the plural form,
because a basic search includes stemmed variations, such as "editors."
Additionally, case doesn't matter in queries: a word entered in lower
case will match words in upper case, lower case, or mixed case.
How to Incorporate Verity Operators
You can make your queries more specific by combining
the words you used for basic queries with operators. Operators are special
words that are used to indicate logical relationships between the descriptive
terms that make up your query.
Basic Operators
Here are basic operators that you can specify as part of queries.
| Operator [1] |
Description |
| AND
|
Finds documents containing both words it
joins.
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| OR |
Finds documents containing either of the
words it joins.
|
| NOT |
Finds documents containing the word preceding it
and excludes documents containing the word that follows
it.
|
| <NEAR> |
Finds documents containing words that are in
the same general area, but may or may not be adjacent.
|
| <PHRASE> |
Finds documents containing phrases, words
that are adjacent to each other.
|
| ,
(comma) |
Finds documents containing at least one of the
words specified, ranking them using "the more, the better"
approach, so documents with the most evidence of the words searched
for are given the highest rank.
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[1] Note:
AND, OR
and NOT
are treated as operators by default, and do not require brackets.
If you want to use them as literal words, place them in double
quotes. All other operators must be placed within brackets.
More About Operators
Here are some additional operators that you can specify as part of
queries.
| Operator |
Description |
| ? |
Wildcard operator that represents any one character.
You can use a ? to specify the first letter of a word.
|
| * |
Wildcard operator that represents one or more
characters.You cannot use a * to specify the first letter of a
word.
|
| ' (single quotes) |
Placing a word in single quotation marks finds
stemmed variations of the word. Example: the query 'edit'
finds "edited," "editing," and "edition."
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| " (double quotes) |
Placing a word in double quotation marks finds
exact matches only, excluding stemmed variations of the
word. Example: the query "edit"
matches the word "edit" only, not the words "edited," "editing,"
or "edition."
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| <THESAURUS> |
Thesaurus operator that searches for documents
containing words that are synonyms for the word you specify.
Example: the query <THESAURUS>
altitude retrieves documents that include the words "height"
and "elevation," as well as "altitude."
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Query Examples
Using these examples, you can write queries that will
return exactly the information you want.
Finding Words
Most queries can be written by entering the words and phrases you're
interested in, separated by commas. If you were looking for
information about the Web or about using laptop computers, you could
enter:
web, laptop computer
This query returns documents that contain the terms "Web" (case doesn't
matter in queries), "laptop computers," or both. Your results list
will display a ranked list of documents, with the most relevant documents
at the top of the list.
Finding Phrases
Perhaps you want to see documents that refer to a series of words
that occur in a specific order, such as "Web publishing with HTML".
You could enter the whole phrase:
web
publishing with html
This query returns only documents that contain all of these words
in the exact sequence you specified, including stemmed variations
of the search terms.
Finding a Specific Subject
The simple queries above returned some documents about the Web, some
documents about laptop computers, and some about both subjects. If
your real interest is in accessing the Web using a laptop computer,
you can use the AND operator
to be more specific. You could enter:
web
AND laptop computers
This query returns only those documents that contain both "Web" and
"laptop computers" in the same document, so this list will be shorter
than the results of the query written using commas. (You can enter
AND in lower case and it
will still be treated as an operator.)
AND is treated
as an operator unless it is surrounded by quotation marks. So if you
want to use the word "and" as part of a phrase, place it inside quotation
marks. For example, to search for the phrase "addresses and URLs",
you would enter:
addresses "and" URLs
Excluding Terms
You might want to specifically exclude certain documents from your
results list. For example, you might want to see documents about most
Web browsers, but you're not interested in Lynx. You can use the NOT operator and enter:
web
browser NOT lynx
This query returns only documents referring to Web browsers that
do not also mention Lynx. If a document includes both "Web browser"
and "Lynx," it will be excluded.
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