Search Options

[seamo]

I know that Advanced Search offers additional search functions, but I'm wondering if there are other search parameters that the search engine allows.

For example, I was looking for the movie "Water Gang". The first time I entered it in the keyword box, it came back with search results for "water OR gang", so I figured that it uses Boolean operators so I re-entered it as "water AND gang". It came back again as "water OR gang" and gave me about 30 pages of results. I tried it again later and entered it just as I had before, but this time it returned the search string as "water, gang" and with just a handful of results. Obviously it was doing an AND search that time. Why did it do it one way the first time, and another way the second?

Should a search be an AND search by default when you enter more than one keyword, or is there some way to add that parameter? Also, is there a way to search for an exact phrase? For example, in a Google search if you enclose the terms in parentheses it will search for the exact phrase.

Thanks for any help in clarifying this for me.

 

[slimjim]

I have found this inconsistency too... In the case of the movie title you mentioned one way to thin out the results is to select "search title only" instead of "search entire posts" and select "posts" not "threads"

And try using quote marks and the + sign i.e ... "water+gang"

 

[josh_the_hot_boy]

Okay here is my great searching secret. When you wanna search for a post that has more than one word in it do this,

Type Water+Gang and it will find all of the post with those 2 words.

Or say Bareback+That+Ass

So just type a plus sign in between each word.

 

[seamo]

Thanks for the tip about using the "+" sign. That's exactly what I was looking for.

I also read in another thread (when I was searching my issue) that the search engine ignores any words with less than four characters. The suggestion was to add the wildcard character, asterisk (*), at the end of the three-letter word. For example, if you wanted to search for "Jim", then type in "Jim*". I tried it and it works.

Perhaps one of the moderators who knows the ins and outs of our particular search engine could write a sticky article with all the parameters/tips/info for us. That would be SO helpful.

 

[squiggle]

I'm no expert and certainly wouldn't classify this as 'sticky' material but I came across this post in a vBulletin "tips" article:

"To search for expressions which include spaces, use the hash/pound symbol (do not use quotes)
eg. le#pen will return matches for both Le Pen and LePen

Boolean operators also work. Words are AND'ed together by default.
eg. serbia croatia will return all threads which mention both countries

serbia or croatia will return threads which name either

serbia and not croatia (or serbia -croatia) will return matches which mention one but not the other

The asterisk wildcard also works
eg. com*uter will return matches to both computer and commuter

It can also be combined with the boolean operators: com*uter and not computer will have the same effect as just searching for commuter

A useful trick for searches shorter than the 4-letter limit: append an asterisk
eg. CIA* (but beware this will also return any words beginning with cia)".

 

[topdog]

I would really like to see this pulled together into a sticky. I have been searching around for this and doing my own trial and error. This is very helpful.

 

[squiggle]

I would really like to see this pulled together into a sticky. I have been searching around for this and doing my own trial and error. This is very helpful.

Why don't you take it on as a project? It would earn the gratitude of many members. Google searches for 'vBulletin search function' get some hits which I haven't had time to go through. Likewise 'Boolean operators' might provide useful info.

 

[topdog]

I will take that as a challenge!

:thinking: