Search Tips for Shopping at Mother Earth News
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First you will need to browse or search for the items you would like to order. Keyword search boxes are located on nearly every page of our site. You will also find links to browse lists in the top navigation bar of each page. When you find an item that interests you, click the title or name of the item to see its product detail page. Here you will find more information about the item, including related items.
By default the search engine tries to locate products that have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate items which contain any words in your search query. A search with no results will give you the following message: "No Matches Found. Please revise your search criteria."
In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior.
- phrase search
The search engine supports three types of phrase search.
- To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase
Example: "free search engine"
- To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]
Example: [free search engine]
- To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words }
Example: {free search engine}
- + and - qualifiers
If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.
If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page.
Example: +always -never
- * wildcard
If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match.
Example: gift*
- ? wildcard
If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position.
Example: b?g
- boolean search
You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters.
Example: (contact AND us) OR (about AND us)
All of these techniques can be combined: +alway* -ne??r*
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