With FTR, you can use operators to build complex searches and methods to change which parts of the index are searched.
Operators
Operator |
Name |
Description |
---|---|---|
* |
Wildcard |
Expands a single word to all words starting with the preceding characters. The * can match several characters, a single character, or no characters. |
? |
Character Replacement |
Expands a single word to all words that exactly match the specified letters and have any letter in the location designated by the ?. The ? can match only a single character. |
& |
And |
Joins two search terms together and requires both to be found in a document for the search to be successful. |
| |
Or |
Joins two search terms together and requires at least one of them to be found in a document for the search to be successful. |
! |
Not |
Negates a single search term and requires that it not exist in a document for a search to be successful. |
() |
Group |
Combines multiple search terms so that they are evaluated together as a single term. A group is evaluated before other parts of the search string. |
-
Use double quotes to format search strings.
-
Nest quotes using the forward slash ( / ).
-
If you are searching for an item that includes special characters that has a special meaning in an FTR search (an operator, quote, forward slash, or back slash) or another special character, use a back slash ( \ ) character before it. For example:
ON\-LINE
This would match the following words and phrases.
ON<tab>LINE
ON<newline>LINE
ON LINE
ON-LINE
ON;LINE
ON.LINE
ON&LINE
ON ; LINE
ON. LINE
ON &LINE
ON; LINE
ON. LINE
ON\LINE
ON A LINE
Syntax
The order of operations is left to right, but '&' (And) has a higher precedence than '|' (Or), unless it is grouped in parentheses. Single operators use the search term that follows them. Search terms can be single words or groups of search terms.
Unless you use ExecSQL, you must use spaces between search terms and operators, including parenthesis. Otherwise the operator is treated as part of the search term.
For example, "! owner & ( cat | dog )"
FTR search examples
Example |
Details |
---|---|
doc* |
Finds all documents containing words starting with doc (for example: doctor, document, documentary, docket, and doctrine). |
13?45 |
Finds all documents starting with 13 and ending with 45 (for example: 13445, 13845, and 13045). |
owner & ( cat | dog ) |
Finds all documents containing the word owner and either the word cat or dog. |
owner | cat & dog |
Finds all documents containing either the word owner or the words cat and dog. The And operator (&) is evaluated before the Or operator (|). |
"past the deadline" |
Finds all documents containing the phrase past the deadline. |