Optimising a search

You can use search in many ways to find specific files, themes, changes or generic terms. Utilising search operators can help you build the perfect search. Use one, or more of the below operators in a search to maximise how you search.

Looking for a Phrase

If you want to search for a specific set of words in a given order use a Phrase Search. Put speech marks around a search to look for anything that contains that exact phrase.

Example:

• "Manufacturing Process"

  This will return results with that exact phrase, in that order, anywhere in the item or name.

Looking for multiple terms

Use the AND operator to search for multiple keywords. By default, spaces in a search are an AND.

Example:

• Manufacturing Process

• Manufacturing AND Process

  These will return results with both Manufacturing and Process anywhere in the item or name.

Looking for at least one term

Use an OR operator if you want one or more term returned in a item. Searching Manufacturing OR Process will return results containing Either or Both words.

Example:

• Manufacturing OR Process

• Manufacturing|Process

Excluding terms from a result

Use a NOT operator to exclude items that contain specific words.

Example:

• Manufacturing Process NOT Flow

This example will return results with Manufacturing Process in it but not the word Flow.

Creating a RegEx search

Regular Expression (RegEx) searches find results by searching for patterns in the data. This help when you're not sure what you are looking for, or are looking for lots of similar things.

Example:

• \d{5} \d{8} will find numbers formatted 07000 123456 like phone numbers

• \£\d matches a string that has a £ before a number

Using Wildcards to find unknowns

Using an asterisk (*) to run a Wildcard Search. It replaces that part of the search with any variable.

Example:

• Searching mountain will return mountain, mountains, mountain1, etc.

• Searching seriali*e will return results for serialise and serialize.