You are here:

Using AND/OR/NOT (Boolean Search Operators)

Use Boolean search operators to combine search parameters.

AND: All parameters must be contained in a document for the document to be returned as a search hit. The parameters, by default, are not required to be located together or in any specific order in the document.
OR: A document must contain at least one of the parameters to be returned as a search hit.
NOT: Documents containing specified parameters are excluded.

When using Boolean search operators, keep in mind:

Capitalization of the operators is not required.
Always separate an operator from its parameters with a space.
AND is the default operator between parameters when no other is specified.
OR and NOT operators must be manually inputted between parameters.
NOT requires at least one parameter to its right.
If used with the concept search mode, the system disables concepts for the parameter of the NOT operator and instead applies stem mode to the parameter of the NOT operator.

Examples for searches in exact match mode

Search Query	Search Results
stock purchase agreement	A document must contain stock, purchase, and agreement to be a hit (same as stock AND purchase AND agreement)
stock OR purchase OR agreement	A document must contain at least one of the three terms to be a hit.
NOT stock	Documents containing stock are not returned as hits.
stock not stock and stock or or stock and stock	There is no search result. These searches contain a syntax error, as the parameter to the right or left of the operator is missing.
(stock OR purchase) AND agreement	A document is a hit if it contains either stock AND agreement or purchase AND agreement, or all three terms.
(stock purchase) NOT agreement	A document is a hit if it contains stock AND purchase so long as it does not also contain agreement.
(stock OR purchase) NOT agreement	A document is a hit if it contains either stock OR purchase so long as it does not also contain agreement.

Examples for searches in concept mode

Search Query	Search Results
stock purchase agreement	A document must contain stock, purchase, and agreement or their related concepts to be a hit (same as stock AND purchase AND agreement)
stock OR purchase OR agreement	A document must contain at least one of the three terms or their related concepts to be a hit.
NOT stock	Documents containing stock are not returned as hits.
colloquium NOT meet	The search finds documents that contain the term colloquium and concepts related to the term colloquium, but which do not contain any stemmed variations of the term meet.

Note: Operator names are configurable and may be different in your user interface.

Search for the Words And, Or, Not

Your search may contain a word that is also used as operator name. To search for such words, use wildcard search or phrase search.

Not*
And*
Or*: Wildcard search finds the actual word and any word that starts with not/or/and, respectively. For example: Nottingham, or Andrew, or Oregon.

"Not"
"AND"
"OR": This finds the actual word. Phrase search ignores any operator names.; For example, searching for apples "not" pears finds documents that contain all three words: apples, not, and pears.
"apples not pears"
"apples and pears"
"apples or pears": Phrase searches containing multiple words, including an operator name also treat the operator name as a normal word.
Note: If the stop word feature is active, and NOT, AND or OR are configured as stop words, such a search is invalid, as a phrase search for a stop word only is not possible.