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Proximity Search

Sometimes called “near” or “within” searching, proximity search looks for terms that are within a certain number of words from each other.

/n: Replace “n” with a number to locate terms within the specified number of words from each other, regardless of word order.
/p: Connects terms to be found in the same “paragraph” regardless of word order (/15 by default unless modified by your administrator).
/s: Connects terms to be found in the same “sentence” regardless of word order (/5 by default unless modified by your administrator).
pre/n: Replace “n” with a number to locate terms within the specified number of words from each other, where the first term always precedes the second.
pre/p: Connects terms to be found in the same “paragraph” (/15) where the first term always precedes the second.
pre/s: Connects terms to be found in the same “sentence” (/5) where the first term always precedes the second.

When using proximity search, keep in mind:

Always separate an operator from its parameters with a space.
Count stop words and the ending word when determining the proximity separation number.
Terms must be at least one term apart; a /0 proximity search will return an error.
Do not add a “w” before the proximity operator, e.g., w/2, as the added character will cause the search to return inconsistent results.
Proximity expressions are always executed in exact match mode.

Examples

Search Query	Search Results
john /2 smith	Proximity search is useful for name searching. This search would return documents where John’s middle name or initial appear between his first and last name. Also, consider name variations: John might be known as Johnny or Jonathan or Jon or Mr. Smith.
surge /8 east	A document that contains any 7 words between surge and east is returned as a hit, e.g., “surge of cold air is settling into the East.” It does not matter if surge precedes east or vice versa.
surge pre/8 east	A document that contains any 7 words between surge and east is returned as a hit, so long as surge precedes east.
agreement /s merger	A document is a hit if it contains agreement and merger separated by any four words.
agreement pre/s merger	A document is a hit if it contains agreement and merger separated by any four words, so long as agreement precedes merger.
(Concept mode) company AND merger PRE/s agreement	This search finds documents that contain concepts related to companies that also contain the exact word merger followed by the exact word agreement where merger and agreement are separated by any four words.