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Using search operators

Boolean operators can be used in the Basic and Advanced search modes. They must be entered in uppercase letters. The terms and, or, not(in lowercase) will not be considered as Boolean operators, but as terms to be searched in the authorities. 

  • Boolean operators

    AND

    Shows intersection. Used to search authorities in which all entered terms appear.

    e.g.,  art AND philosophieallows you to search all authorities containing the terms "art" AND "philosophie" 

     

    OR

    Shows union. Used to search the authorities in which at least one of the entered terms appears.

    e.g.,  banjo OR guitarewill allow you to search all authorities containing either the term "banjo" or the term "guitar", or both  

     

    NOT

    Shows exclusion. Used to search authorities in which one term appears but not the other.

    e.g.,  comédies NOT films will allow you to search all authorities containing the term "comedies", but not containing the term "film" 

  • Quotation marks

    To search for the exact terms between quotation marks.

    e.g.,  phénomène transitionnel allows you to search all authorities in which "phénomène transitionnel" corresponds exactly to an entry in the search index 

  • Truncation

    To replace one or more missing characters. Represented by: * 

    How to use it? 

    • at the stard of a word

    e.g.,   *tionwill allow you to search all authorities ending in "tion"

    • in the middle ot the word

    e.g.,  avi*on will allow you to search all authorities containing the characters avi followed by any other letters and ending in on

    • at the end of a word

    e.g., anim* allows you to search all authorities starting with the letters anim and followed by any letters, such as the words "anima", "animal", "animaux", etc.

     

    To replace just one character. Represented by: ?

    e.g.,  film? allows you to search all authorities containing the word "film" followed by just one character.

    e.g.,  organi?ation allows you to search all authorities containing any character in place of the ?, such as the words "organisation", "organization", etc.   

  • Proximity operator

    To search for terms separated by a distance of n, where nrepresents the maximum number of terms between two words in no particular order. Represented by: %n.

    e.g.,  droit %2 banques allows you to search for all authorities containing a maximum of 2 terms between the words "droit" and "banques", in no particular order, like "Banques (Droit islamique)", "Banques hypothécaires--Droit", etc.

  • Adjacent operator

    To search for terms separated by a number n, where n represents the maximum number of terms between two words in the same order. Represented by: #n.

    e.g.,  art #3 histoire allows you to search for all authorities containing a maximum of 3 terms between the words "art" and "histoire", in the same order, like "Art--15e siècle-–Histoire", "Art--Histoire", "Art et histoire", etc.

 

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