User Guide

Table Of Contents
Composing search expressions 595
The following relational operators compare text and match words and parts of words:
For example, assume a document field named SOURCE includes the following values:
Computer
Computerworld
Computer Currents
PC Computing
To locate documents whose source is Computer, enter the following:
SOURCE <MATCHES> computer
Operator Description Example
CONTAINS Selects documents by matching the word or
phrase that you specify with the values stored in
a specific document field. Documents are
selected only if the search elements specified
appear in the same sequential and contiguous
order in the field value.
In a document field named
TITLE, to retrieve documents
whose titles contain music,
musical, or musician, search for
TITLE <CONTAINS> Musi*.
To retrieve CFML and HTML
pages whose meta tags contain
Framingham as a content word,
search for KEYWORD
<CONTAINS> Framingham.
MATCHES Selects documents by matching the query
string with values stored in a specific document
field. Documents are selected only if the search
elements specified match the field value
exactly. If a partial match is found, a document
is not selected. When you use the MATCHES
operator, you specify the field name to search,
and the word, phrase, or number to locate. You
can use ? and * to represent individual and
multiple characters, respectively, within a string.
For examples, see the text
immediately following this table.
STARTS Selects documents by matching the character
string that you specify with the starting
characters of the values stored in a specific
document field.
In a document field named
REPORTER, to retrieve
documents written by Clark, Clarks,
and Clarkson, search for
REPORTER <STARTS> Clark.
ENDS Selects documents by matching the character
string that you specify with the ending
characters of the values stored in a specific
document field.
In a document field named
OFFICER, to retrieve arrest reports
written by Tanner, Garner, and
Milner, search for OFFICER
<ENDS> ner.
SUBSTRING Selects documents by matching the query
string that you specify with any portion of the
strings in a specific document field.
In a document field named TITLE,
to retrieve documents whose titles
contain words such as solution,
resolution, solve, and resolve,
search for TITLE <SUBSTRING>
sol.