Rules for Nested Expressions in Full-Text Searches

5/10/2007

The following list summarizes the rules for searching topics using nested expressions:

  • You can use parentheses to nest expressions within a query. The expressions in parentheses are evaluated before the rest of the query.
  • If a query does not contain a nested expression, it is evaluated from left to right. For example, Control NOT active OR dde finds topics containing the term control without the term active or topics containing the term control and not dde. On the other hand, control NOT (active OR dde) finds topics containing the term control without either of the terms active or dde.
  • With nesting you can create more complex search expressions. For example, control AND ((active OR dde) NEAR window) finds topics containing the term control along with the terms active and window close together or containing control along with the terms dde and window close together.
  • You cannot nest expressions more than five levels deep.

See Also

Tasks

Using Full-Text Search

Concepts

Navigation Using Shortcut Keys
Finding Information in Help