Searching in the help system

To search topics in the help system, enter a query in the Search field. The Contents pane displays the top 500 ranked results. Click on a search result to view the topic. The words from your query are highlighted.

To toggle between the navigation tree and the search results list, click the Contents tab (icon: high-level topic) or the Search Results tab (icon: search icon) at the bottom on the Contents pane.

Searches are not case-sensitive.

Searching for exact words or phrases

You can identify a search phrase as an exact string by enclosing it in double quotation marks. For example, "log file" searches for the string log file, not the separate words log and file. Without the quotation marks, the search term is interpreted as log AND file.

In English and German only, the search engine "stems" other forms of a single search word. For example, a search for the word challenge, will also find the word challenging. Use double quotation marks when you do not want stemming.

Searching with wildcards

You can use the following wildcard characters:

Searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)

You can insert the binary operators: AND, OR, and NOT in your search term. For example:

database AND "log file"
To narrow your search to include topics that must contain both of the terms database and "log file" anywhere in the document.

database OR "log file"
To widen your search for topics that contain either database or log file anywhere the document

database NOT "log file"
Searches for documents that contain database without log file anywhere the document.

database OR "data base" NOT "log file"
Searches for documents that contain database without log file anywhere the document.

Narrowing your search scope

By default, all topics shown in the Contents pane are searched. However, you can narrow your searches to a particular set of topics, called a search list and save search lists to use again later.

To create a search list:

  1. Click Search scope: link next to the Search field. The Select Search Scope window opens.
  2. Select Search only the following topics and click the New push button. The New Search List window opens.
  3. In the List name field, provide a name for your new search list.
  4. In the Topics to search list, select the navigation categories that you want to include in your search. You can expand categories to select only certain subcategories.
  5. Click OK. Your new search list now appears in the Search only the following topics list. By default, it is automatically selected. You can click OK to apply this search list.

The search list that is currently active is always shown at the top of the help browser, next to the Search scope link. The search list that you last used persists across sessions of the help system.

For more information on the search function, go to the Apache Jakarta Web site at Blue Arrow icon jakarta.apache.org.

Related topics
About the help system
Prerequisite software
Navigating the help system
Setting bookmarks and printing in the help system
Installing new or updated documentation plug-ins
Viewing information in different languages
Starting the help system
Stopping the help system
Accessibility in the help system

 

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