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Boolean operators

Direct the search engine with more precision to get the best search results possible.

    Boolean operators are short words and characters that can tell the search engine how search terms should relate to each other. These can be used either in the General Search Bar or in the Advanced Operators field in Advanced Search. 

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    Boolean operators list

    • a AND b: AND tells the search engine to look for both terms.

    • a OR b : OR is used to look for results with either or both terms.

    • a AND NOT b: AND NOT will exclude all results with the second term.

    • "abc": when you write a term or a sentence in quotation marks, the results will contain that exact term or phrase.

    • abc* : using an asterisk instructs the search engine to finish the word.

    • [a b c]: using square brackets lets you search for words within a default proximity of 20 words.

    • [a b c]/N: adding a / followed by a number next to the square brackets will allow you to customise the distance between your search terms.

     

    You can combine many* operators on this list to make a more complex query. For example you could combine a phrase with an additional term: "urban planning" AND Winnipeg

    *Not all operators can be combined, please read the notes below.

    In-depth explanation

     
    a AND b
     

    This operator allows the user to find results that include all specified keywords. Documents will be displayed containing all the search words, in any order and anywhere in the document - including the title. 

    For example, if you need to find documents that include both the term 'urban' and 'planning', you can choose to type both words with a capitalised AND between them: urban AND planning. 

    You must include the AND in vLex if you want results to appear with both terms. If you do not, vLex will automatically conduct an OR search (see below).

    a OR b
     

    This operator allows the user to find results that contain any of the specified words. Documents will be displayed if they include at least one of the terms entered. 

    For example, you could search for child OR teenager and documents containing either or both of those words would appear in the results. 

    a AND NOT b
     

    This operator allows the user to exclude results that contain any of the specified words. Documents will be displayed only if they do not include any of the terms entered. 

    For example, if you want results including 'urban planning' but not the term 'housing' you can search for "urban planning" AND NOT housing and vLex will return results that do not include that term. 

    "a b c"

    This operator allows the user to find results that include an exact phrase. Documents will be displayed containing only this phrase, punctuation will not be considered.

    For example, just searching for urban planning will yield results with urban and planning anywhere in the document, as well as documents containing just urban or just planning. Using quotation marks will ensure you search for the words ''urban planning'' together, in that order.  

    abc*
     

    This operator allows the user to find results when they only know part of a word or name. Documents will be displayed containing words with this as their root

    For example, searching for urba* will pull results with the terms: urban, urbane, urbanisation, urbanise, urbanism, urbanist, etc. 

    [a b c]
     

    This operator allows the user to find results where words appear near each other. Documents will be displayed where the terms occur within a maximum distance of 20 words. 

    For example, searching for [urban planning Winnipeg] will show results that include each of those terms within a distance of 20 words from each other. 

    If you want to customise the distance between words, you can add a forward slash and the number ([a b c]/n) to the end of the square brackets. For example, [urban planning Winnipeg]/5. will show results that include each term within a distance of 5 from each other.

    You cannot use other operators within square brackets as the search engine will not recognise them. For example, ["urban planning" Winnipeg]/5 will have the same results as [urban planning Winnipeg] because the quotation marks are removed. 

     

    Video walkthrough