Search Basics |
By default, the OSHA search only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms. For example (noise hearing) is equivalent to (noise AND hearing). Keep in mind that the order in which the terms are typed will affect the search results. To restrict a search further, just include more terms. Search for complete phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks. Words enclosed in double quotes ("noise control") will appear together in all results exactly as you have entered them. Phrase searches are especially useful when searching for sayings or proper names.
To query on words and symbols that are reserved (e.g. "and", "&", "or", etc.), they must be surrounded quotes ("). Everything within a set of quotes is considered an exact search phrase. The reserved words and symbols in the following examples are elements of each search phrase and not search operators.
Queries can be refined by combining search operators to retrieve the desired documents from the database. When combining operators, the AND (&) operator has a higher precedence than the OR (|) operator as shown in the examples below. Parentheses can and should be used to clarify and/or specify the order of evaluation of the search terms.
In the first example, because AND (&) has a higher precedence than OR (|), the query returns all documents that contain w1 and all documents that contain both w2 and w3. In the second example, the query returns all documents that contain both w1 and w2 and all documents that contain w3. In the third example, the query returns all documents that contain both w1 and w2 but not w3. In the forth example, the query returns all documents that contain both w1 and w2 near each other and also either w3 or w4 but not w5. Using and Combining Search Fields... The Text field search finds a word or phrase within the text of a document. Most data collections have additional fields, besides the text, which can be searched. For example: Standard Number, Date, and Document Type. The table of contents page of a data collection displays the text search field and another applicable field for that collection if there is one. If there are more than two search fields, they can be accessed by clicking on the "Advanced Search" link. The "Advanced Search" link is only displayed if there are other searchable fields not currently displayed. The search fields for a data collection can be used individually or in any combination with each other to refine a search. For example, a text phrase can be entered along with a date range to find documents with the specified phrase that fall within a certain time period. Adding a Standard Number to the previous example refines the search to find all documents with the specified phrase which fall within a given date range and reference a specific standard number. Dates can be entered as a single date or as a date range. Any date element (Year, Month, or Day) excluded will be replaced with a default value which is dependent on the values included. As shown in the examples below, if the year is excluded the default year is the current one. If the day is excluded, the range spans from the first to the last day of the month.
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