Boolean Searching

(also known as Boolean logic, Boolean algebra)

If a search engine has full Boolean capabilities, it will offer the following search options:

AND operator
You will get hits that contain both terms.

Example:  automobile AND sales would retrieve only those pages where both the word "automobile" and the word "sales" are present on the same document.

OR operator
You will get  more hits than an AND search because you will get results that contain either term.

Example: cats OR dogs would retrieve all documents that have the word "cats" plus all the pages that have the word "dogs"

NOT operator
Excludes a word.

Example: climbing NOT ice would retrieve all pages that have the word "climbing" except those that have the word "ice".

AND NOT
Sometimes you will see this variation of the NOT operator. Documents containing the term after this operator are rejected from the results set. 

Notes

• When using operators, use upper case characters.  Lower case will work with some, but not others.
• Try using Boolean searching even if you are unsure whether the search engine you are using offers it.  If the engine doesn't apply them, chances are it will ignore the operators.

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