Applying Search Logic

Texis and Metamorph use set logic for text queries. Set logic is easier to use and provides more abilities than boolean. The examples below make reference to single keywords, but keep in mind that each keyword can represent an entire list of things or any of the special pattern matchers.

Sets (or lists) of things are specified by placing the elements within parenthesis, separated by commas. Example: (bob,joe,sam,sue) . In the examples below, you could replace any of the keywords with a list like this.

The default behavior of the search is to locate an intersection (or 'AND') of every element within a query. This means that the query: "microsoft bob interface" is the equivalent to the boolean query: "microsoft AND bob AND interface" .

- (without)

The - (minus) is the most commonly used logic symbol. It means the answer should EXCLUDE references to that item.

+ (mandatory)

The + (plus) symbol in front of a search item means that the answer MUST INCLUDE that item. This is generally used in conjunction with the permutation operation.

@N (permute)

The @ followed by a number indicates how many intersections to locate of the terms in your query. This may be confusing at first, but it is very powerful.

The plus(+) and minus(-) operators must be attached to the term to which they apply. There must be a space between the operator and any preceding term.

Correct	Incorrect
bob +sam -joe	bob + sam - joe
	bob+sam-joe

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To locate words, just type them in as you would in a word processor. Letter cases will be ignored.

The wild-card character * (asterisk) may be used to match just the prefix of a word or to ignore the middle of something.

If the item you wish to locate is more complicated than the simple * wild-card can accomplish, try using the regular expression matcher (http://www.thunderstone.com/texis/site/pages/regexp.html).

To locate a number of adjacent words in a specific order, surround them with " (double quotation) characters. Putting a - (hyphen) between words will also force order and one word proximity.

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The Search Appliance has a vocabulary of over 250,000 word and phrase associations. Each entry is generally classifiable by either its meaning or part of speech.

Depending on the administrator's Synonyms setting for this profile, synonyms may already be included for each term in your query. If not, synonyms may be included for individual terms within your query by preceding them with a ~ (tilde) character.

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These pattern matchers are used to locate hard-to-find items within text:

• Regular expression matching for complex patterns http://www.thunderstone.com/texis/site/pages/regexp.html

• Approximate pattern matching for fuzzy searches http://www.thunderstone.com/texis/site/pages/xpm.html

• Numeric pattern matching for finding quantities http://www.thunderstone.com/texis/site/pages/npm.html

If improperly used these pattern matchers can slow queries. Therefore they require other keyword(s) in the query and are disabled entirely under Page proximity. For more details see the Vortex manual on Query Protection (http://www.thunderstone.com/site/vortexman/link_qprot.html).

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  The Word forms options give you control over how many variations of your query terms will be sought in your search.

Exact match:

Only exact matches will be allowed. (the default)

Plurals & possessives:

Plural and possessive forms will be found. (s, es, 's)

Any word forms:

As many word forms as can be derived will be located.

Custom:

Uses the Custom Suffix List, Custom Suffix Default Removal, and Custom Suffix Min Length settings to create your own custom behavior.

We call this morpheme processing, and it is generally smarter than a traditional "stemming" algorithm. It doesn't just rip the end off a word, it actually checks to see if it could be a valid form of the search term. More information is available at http://www.thunderstone.com/site/texisman/link_ling.html .

Notes: Thesaurus terms are also treated in the same manner. Words smaller than 4-5 characters will not be morpheme processed.

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These options give you control over the region in which a match must be found.

line:

match terms must be located within the same line.

sentence:

all terms within the same sentence.

paragraph:

match terms must be located within the same paragraph.

page:

(default) all terms within the same document.

In all cases the best possible matches for your query are located and ordered by decreasing quality. A bar graph is produced to indicate the quality of each answer.

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