Searches operate on individual words separated by the search operators AND, OR and NOT. Parenthesis can be used to create nested expressions, or to change the order of evaluation of an expression. Punctuation (colons, periods, quotes, etc.) is not searchable.
To perform a search, the search string is entered into the Search For: text box in the Search Dialog. Note that WebCDÆs search operations are case insensitive, and that a space between keywords is interpreted as the AND operator.
As an example, all of the following search strings will return documents that contain both the words sales and marketing:
sales and marketing
SALES MARKETING
Sales Marketing
Expressions will be evaluated according to the following rules of precedence:
1 All expressions in parenthesis will be evaluated first.
2 Expressions containing the operators AND and NOT are evaluated next.
3 Expressions containing the operator OR are evaluated last.
The following examples are designed to illustrate these rules of precedence.
The search string sales or marketing and software
returns documents containing both the words marketing and software, or the word sales
The search string (sales or marketing) and software
returns documents that contain both the words marketing and software, or both the words sales and software.
The search string sales and marketing or software not development
returns documents that contain both the words sales and marketing, and documents that do not contain the word development, but do contain the word software.
The search string sales and (marketing or software) not development
returns documents that do not contain the word development, but do contain both the words sales and marketing, or documents that do not contain the word development, but do contain both the words sales and software.
