Using a search query form

The following search syntaxes can be used when searching text using the "search_query" parameter.

Plus ( + ) and minus ( - ) signs
The plus and minus signs do not join terms, but only operate on the term that follows them.
Quotation marks ( " )
Use quotes to combine words into search phrases, for example "IBM software".
Note: When you search for strings with special query characters, such as a blank or a colon ( : ), you must enclose your search string in quotes.
Trailing wild cards
Use an asterisk ( * ) as a trailing wild card in your search string, for example softw* .

Using the plus and minus signs

For your query, type any words that describe what you are looking for. Use the plus and minus signs as follows:
  • Put a plus sign ( + ) in front of the words that you want to be present in the returned documents.
  • Put a minus sign ( - ) in front of the words that must not be present in the returned documents.
  • When using signs, do not leave any space between the sign and the following word qualified by the sign. 

Plus sign examples

+thinkpad
All documents retrieved must contain the word thinkpad. A single unsigned word, thinkpad, is also read this way, and is treated by the search engine as +thinkpad.
+thinkpad +drivers
All documents retrieved must contain the word thinkpad and the word drivers.
+thinkpad drivers
All documents retrieved must contain the word thinkpad, but only optionally the word drivers

Minus sign examples

+thinkpad -drivers
All documents retrieved must contain the word thinkpad but must not contain the word drivers
Note:
  1. Do not use only minus signed terms for your search because they will not produce a result list. The reason is that in this case the search terms are too vague to allow for a meaningful scoring of the found documents.
  2. Use spaces between signed terms in order to distinguish them from terms that contain a minus sign, such as e-mail. Note that e-mail is treated as "e-mail" whereas e -mail is treated as optionally e , and the word mail should not be contained in the resulting documents.