Delimiters in Expressions


Angle brackets (< >), braces ({ }), double-quotation marks ("), and backslashes (\) are used in expressions as described below.

Angle Brackets for Operators

Left and right angle brackets (< >) are reserved for designating operators and modifiers. They are optional for AND, OR, and NOT but required in all other cases. Examples in this guide appear with and without angle brackets. As the following simple syntax examples show, enter expressions either way:


future <AND> trends
future AND trends
Both expressions mean: Look for documents that contain the stemmed variations of the words "future" and "trends".

You can also explicitly specify a topic by using <TOPIC>(topic_name), where topic_name represents the topic to be used. The following example means: Look for documents that contain elements of the topic named performing-arts and the stemmed variations of the word "acting."

<TOPIC>(performing-arts) AND acting

Braces in Expressions

Use left and right braces ({ }) to specify a topic. The following example means: Look for documents that contain elements of the topics named philosophy and history.

{philosophy} AND {history}

Double Quotes for Reserved Words

To search for a word that is reserved as an operator (AND, OR, and NOT), enclose the word in double quotation marks. For example, to search for the phrase "black and white TV," enter the following simple syntax:

black "and" white TV

Enclosing the word "and" in double-quotation marks (") signifies that "and" should be considered as a word, not an operator.

Backslashes for Special Characters

To include a backslash (\) in a search, insert two backslashes for each backslash character. To search for "C:\bin\print," enter the following simple syntax:

C:\\bin\\print





Copyright © 2001, Verity, Inc. All rights reserved.