Enterprise Buyer 2.0 Desktop Edition Help

Keyword Search Syntax

Enterprise Buyer 2.0 Desktop Edition allows searches using combinations of words, phrases and numbers.

Operators

You can also use:

Boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT and the proximity operator (NEAR) to create more precise search queries
Asterisk (*) wildcard operators to find descriptions containing related words and variants.

For example, use the following operators in the keyword Search Criteria:

To search for:	For example:	The system will find:
A word (or phrase) in a description	computer or... computer monitor	Descriptions containing the word "computer"... ... Or descriptions containing the exact phrase "computer monitor"
Two words (or phrases), both occurring anywhere in the same description	computer AND monitor or... computer & monitor	Descriptions containing both the words "computer" and "monitor" anywhere within them... ... But not descriptions containing only the word "computer" or only the word "monitor"
Either one or both, of two words (or phrases), in a description	pen OR pencil or... pen \| pencil	Descriptions containing the word "pen" or the word "pencil"... ... Or descriptions containing both words, not necessarily adjacent
One word (or phrase), but not another, in a description	furniture AND NOT wood or... furniture & ! wood	Descriptions containing the word "furniture"... ... But not descriptions containing the word "wood" ... And not descriptions containing both words "furniture" and "wood"
Two words (or phrases) near together (but not necessarily adjacent) in a description	paper NEAR( ) printer or... paper near printer or... paper ~ printer	Descriptions containing with the word "paper" in close proximity to the word "printer"... ... But not necessarily adjacent
Words containing a specified word fragment	comput* or... *side	Descriptions containing words that begin "comput," such as "computer", "computing", "computation", and so on... ... Or descriptions containing words that end "side," such as "inside," "outside", "upside" and so on.
Words based on a specified word stem	write**	Descriptions containing words based on the same stem as "write" ... Such as "writing," "wrote," "written," and so on.

Precedence

The AND operator has a higher precedence than OR.

For example, these first three queries yield the same result:

pen AND pencil OR deskset
Deskset OR Pencil AND Pen
deskset OR (pen AND pencil)

This next one does not:

(deskset OR pen) AND pencil
Use parentheses to nest AND, OR and NOT expressions within a query. The expressions in parentheses are evaluated before the rest of the query.
Do not use parentheses to nest NEAR expressions within a query. The NEAR() expression can only be used for simple operands or those containing wildcards.

For example, these first two examples are valid:

pen near() Paper
paper NEAR pen*

this next one is not:

(pen AND paper) near() computer

Quotes

Use double quotes (") to indicate that a operator keyword should be ignored in your query.

For example:

"pen and ink" finds descriptions containing the complete phrase "pen and ink",
but not descriptions that match the Boolean expression "pen and ink".

Relevance

The NEAR operator is similar to the AND operator in that NEAR returns a match if both words being searched for are in the same page. However, the NEAR operator differs from AND because the rank assigned by NEAR depends on the proximity of words.

The relevance or a result is greatest when the words are adjacent. The relevance declines as the two words are found further apart. If the words are more than 50 words apart, the relevance is ranked as zero and no result is displayed.

Characters

The only acceptable wildcard character is "*".

The percent symbol "%", which was used as a wildcard character in earlier versions of the product, no longer has any special or reserved meaning.

The Searching Tricks & Tips page has more information and examples of search syntax.

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