| Operator |
Effect |
Example |
| (
) |
The
parentheses determine how ANDs and ORs are treated.
Words within parentheses are considered a unit,
and are considered first. |
Searching
for anatomy OR (human AND
body) finds pages where either anatomy
or human and body occur somewhere
on the page. |
| "
" |
Words
or phrases within quotation marks are treated as
a unit and searched for literally. This is especially
helpful when the search term you are interested
in contains the words "and" or "or." |
Searching
for "rock and roll"
finds pages where the string of words rock and
roll occurs somewhere on the page. |
| * |
The
asterisk functions as a wildcard symbol in searches.
It designates any string of text that could stand
in for the asterisk. |
Searching
for cook* will find pages
containing the words cooking, cooked, and
cookies. |
| ? |
The
question mark stands in for any single character.
It is more precise but often not as useful as the
wildcard asterisk. |
Searching
for ?ar?et will find pages
containing target and carpet. |
