Boolean search tools
A person using an Internet searcher like Yahoo.com can find things more efficiently by using "Boolean" commands to direct the search. There are four types of Boolean search tools, and they can be combined.
REQUIRED AND PROHIBITED SEARCH WORDS
Add a + to a word that needs to be found in all results.
| Example: | Cleveland+ | Result: | Cleveland Browns |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | |||
| Cleveland Indians | |||
| Cleveland Lumberjacks, etc. |
Add - in front of a word that you don’t want included in your search results.
| Example: | python -monty | Result: | Ball Python |
| Burmese Python, etc |
DOCUMENT SECTION RESTRICTIONS
Add t: in front of a word to restrict searches to document titles only.
Add u: in front of a word to restrict searches to document URLs only.
PHRASE MATCHING
Put quote marks around a multiword phrase, and the search engine will look at the phrase as if it were a single word, finding only documents in which that exact phrase appears. It might otherwise find any documents in which all of the words appear, no matter what the sequence.
WILDCARD MATCHING
Adding * after a word returns left-side partial matches.
| Example | cap* | Result: | Capital Management |
| Australian Capital Territory | |||
| Western Cape | |||
| Cape Town |
COMBINING BOOLEAN COMMANDS
You can combine any of the commands as long as you use the order in which they are described above: +, -, t:, u:, " " and lastly *.
| Example: | +t:football -American | Result: | Football (Australian) |
| Football (Gaelic) | |||
| Football (soccer stadium) |