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Requiring or Excluding Terms

The accesKansas Search has a simple query syntax which gives you the pinpoint search power of Boolean logic, without having to remember complex queries. The table below shows the accesKansas Search operators that correspond to Boolean operators:

accesKansas Search
operator
Boolean
equivalent
default operator:
you need not use any
special symbols
OR
+ AND
- NOT
phrase operator:
enclose the phrase with
double quotation marks
ADJ

Boolean queries use the logical operators AND, OR, NOT and ADJ (adjacent). Suppose you wanted to find plain paper color laser printers made by companies other than HP. This query can be specified in Boolean logic as:

(maps ADJ state) AND (county OR (paved ADJ road)) AND NOT (topigraphical)

Using the accesKansas Search operators, the complex query above may be typed into the search box as:

+"state maps" county "paved road" -topigraphical

This query specifies that:

  • All returned documents must contain the phrase "state maps".
  • Documents containing one or more of the terms "state maps", county, or "paved road" will be ranked at the top (the more terms matched, the higher the ranking).
  • None of the documents returned will contain topigraphical.

Statistical Weighting and accesKansas Search Searches
A traditional Boolean search returns an unsorted list of all items that match the search condition. The accesKansas Search goes considerably beyond this by using advanced statistical search technology to return the results sorted with the "best" matches listed at the top. Unlike plain Boolean searches, the accesKansas Search automatically weights your query terms based on their statistical uniqueness. Common terms, such as "shall," get a much lower weighting than less frequently occurring terms, such as the phrase "golf courses."

The accesKansas Search's advanced statistical weighting allows you to just type in relevant words and phrases, and the system will provide the answer to your query in the top few documents! Since there are cases in which it is convenient to narrow a query using Boolean operators, the accesKansas Search Server allows you to use the + and - Boolean operators. With the accesKansas Search, you get the accurate ranking of statistical searching combined with the information filtering of Boolean searching.

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Requiring or Excluding Terms
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