When using the full-text search feature in the help system, the following techniques can help you narrow your search for more precise results.
The AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR operators enable you to precisely define your search by creating a relationship between search terms. If no operator is specified, AND is used. For example, a search on "index cache size" is equivalent to "index AND cache AND size;" the search returns a list of topics that contain all of the words specified ("index" and "cache" and "size"), not necessarily in that order.
A search using the OR operator returns topics that include either word specified; for example, "index OR cache" returns a list of topics that contains either the word "index" or the word "cache" or both.
A search using the NOT operator returns topics that include the first word specified but not the second word specified; for example, "index NOT cache" returns a list of topics that contains the word "index" but not the word "cache."
A search using the NEAR operator returns topics that include the first word specified within eight words of the second word specified; for example, "index NEAR cache" returns a list of topics that contains the word "index" within eight words of the word "cache."
Note: The |, &, and ! characters do not work as Boolean operators. You must use OR, AND, or NOT.
You can search for words or phrases using wildcard expressions. With wildcard expressions, you can search for one or more characters using a question mark or asterisk. For example, when you search for "init*", the search result returns a list of topics that contain the words "initialize," "initialization," "initializing," and so forth.