Advanced search help

Our site search allows simple single or multiple searches against our huge archive of content. However, a few, simple, techniques allow you to get even more out of its search function.

You can create even more sophisticated searches using operators, which are special words used in the search/keyword field such as "AND" to ensure the search works in a specific way.

AND

This operator ensures that all words can be found in each of the search results. However it is the default and therefore you do not need to provide it.
Example:  A search for enterprise AND storage is the same as entering: enterprise storage as the search defaults to the AND operator.

OR

This operator allows a search to return results that contain any of the search terms you provide.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "enteprise" or "storage" - but not necessarily in that order or next to each - just somewhere in the article.
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: enterprise OR storage

+

The "+" operator ensures term after the "+" symbol exists somewhere in each search result.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "enterprise" but may or may not contain "storage".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: +enterprise storage

-

The "-" operator ensures term after the "-" symbol DOES NOT exists somewhere in each search result.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "enterprise" but must not contain "storage".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: enterprise -storage

NOT

The "+" operator excludes words that you do NOT want to be found anywhere in the search results.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "enterprise" but DO NOT contain "storage".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: enterprise NOT storage

Phrases

If you wish to search against multiple words as an exact phrase, you can do this using "".
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the exact phrase "John Smith".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: "John Smith"

Combining operators - Advanced Searches

You can combine the operators above to create complex, grouped searches using parentheses.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the phrase "John Smith" and MUST mention Telstra
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: "John Smith" AND Telstra
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words "John Smith" AND either "Telstra" or "Optus"
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: "John Smith" AND (Telstra OR Optus)