PRISM
The Basic Search and Advanced Search features in PRISM are powered by Apache's Lucene text search engine. Check out examples below or view full documentation on Apache Lucene - Query Parser Syntax.
Advanced queries can be entered directly in the search box. Select Go to run the search.
Phrase searching
Double quotes must surround phrases. If quotes are not used, words are searched as separate terms and results will include items containing all terms.
Example:
to search for the phrase decision tree in full-text use: "decision tree"
to search for the phrase decision tree in the title field use: title:"decision tree"
Search within a specific field
Target searches to specific fields by including the field name with the search string.
Example:
to search for the phrase decision tree in the title field use: title:"decision tree"
to search for conference proceedings use: type:"conference proceedings"
to search for items with the subject linguistics use: subject:linguistics
Search for a specific author:
To search for a name in the author field use a combination of field, phrase, and boolean searching
Example:
to search for items by John A Smith or John Smith use: author:("smith, john" OR "smith, john a")
* searches are not case sensitive. Searching for "Smith, John" and "smith, john" return the same results.
Using a wildcard
A single character wildcard is denoted by ? while a multiple character wildcard is denoted by *.
*cannot be used as the first character of a search or within a phrase search
Example:
to search for woman or women use: wom?n
to search for secure, securing, security etc.. in the title field use: title:secur*
Fuzzy search
To indicate a fuzzy search use ~ This may be a useful if you are searching for an acronym but are unsure about its exact spelling and usage. Specify how fuzzy the search should be by adding a value from 0 (more fuzzy) to 1 (less fuzzy). The default is 0.5
* cannot be used with a phrase search
Example:
to find terms similar to nsp use: nsp~
to find terms similar to behave in the title field use: title:behave~
Proximity search
A proximity search allows terms to be searched within a certain number of words from each other. A proximity search is denoted with ~ at the end of a set of words in double quotes, and a value indicating the maximum number of words between.
Example:
to search for "decision" and "tree" within 10 words of each other use: "tree decision"~10
Boosting a search term
If there are multiple terms or phrases in your search, you can control how relevant the term's appear by using the ^ symbol and a boost factor.
Example:
to search for the terms "decision tree" and "nps" where "nps" appears more relevant in the search results use: "decision tree" "nps"^5
Boolean operators
Add logical structure to searches using AND, +, &&, OR, NOT, -, !
Example:
to search for both "decision" and "tree" in full text use one of the following:
decision tree
decision AND tree
decision +tree
decision && tree
to search for "decision" or "tree" use: decision OR tree
to search for "decision" but not "tree" use one of the following:
decision NOT tree
decision -tree
decision !tree
Grouping
Logical structures can be grouped together by using parentheses.
Example:
to search for the phrase "decision tree" and either "University of Calgary" or "UCalgary" use: "decision tree" AND ("University of Calgary" OR UCalgary)
to search for the "decision" and words starting with "mak" in the title field use one of the following:
title:(decision mak*)
title:(decision AND mak*)
Ranges
Find matches where values are between lower and upper bounds.
Example:
to search for documents published between 1986 and 1990 use: dateIssued:[1986 TO 1990]
*although dates may include month and day range searches work for year only