# Text Search Rules

When you search for text, you generally can type the text you are looking for (the search string). However, there are a few things you should be aware of:

- Search strings are case-insensitive; that is, uppercase A is the same as lowercase a.

- Type a list of terms, separated by spaces, to find documents containing all of these terms. This is the same as using AND.

- Type a list of terms, separated by commas, to find documents containing one or more of these terms. This is the same as using OR.

- Use quotation marks (") around several words to search for an exact phrase.

- You can use the common Internet search operators plus (+) and minus (-). Put a plus in front of any term that must be included in the results and a minus in front of any term that must be excluded from results. Do not include a space after the plus or minus.
  Note: Do not use these Internet search operators in the same search with the operators described in the table.

In addition, the following table describes a number of operators you can use to modify your search strings:

Operator/Description | Example Search Text | Example Search Results
Wildcards are symbols that represent any character, allowing you to search for partial terms. The asterisk (*) represents any number of characters. Note: You must include at least three characters if you are doing a substring search (wildcards on each end of the string). | sub* | subdirectory, subject, subjective
AND finds objects containing all of the specified terms. | holiday AND schedule | Holiday Schedule
OR finds objects containing at least one of the specified terms. Note: This is the same as entering a list of terms, separated by commas (,) or vertical bars (|). | holiday OR vacation | Holiday Schedule, Christmas Holiday Party, Scheduling Vacation
NOT excludes objects containing the specified term. | holiday NOT vacation | Holiday Schedule, Christmas Holiday Party
NEAR finds terms within a specified proximity of each other. For example, <NEAR/10> finds objects within 10 words of each other. | early <NEAR/10> retirement | Plan early for your retirement.