Search User


The administrator can choose between 2 search systems: See Search Admin

1.1. Boolean search with 'Basic Search' (tiki-searchresults.php)

Added in Tiki 3.0. When Basic Search is enabled, then this is the list of operators to manage a boolean search.

By default, you can use these boolean operators to refine your search results:

  • + : A leading plus sign indicates that this word must be present in every object returned.
  • - : A leading minus sign indicates that this word must not be present in any row returned.
  • By default (when neither plus nor minus is specified) the word is optional, but the object that contain it will be rated higher.
  • < > : These two operators are used to change a word's contribution to the relevance value that is assigned to a row.
  • ( ) : Parentheses are used to group words into subexpressions.
  • ~ : A leading tilde acts as a negation operator, causing the word's contribution to the object relevance to be negative. It's useful for marking noise words. An object that contains such a word will be rated lower than others, but will not be excluded altogether, as it would be with the - operator.
  • * : An asterisk is the truncation operator. Unlike the other operators, it should be appended to the word, not prepended.
  • " : The phrase, that is enclosed in double quotes ", matches only objects that contain this phrase literally, as it was typed.


1.1.1. Default search behavior

By default, all search terms are optional. It behaves like an OR logic. Objects that contain the more terms are rated higher in the results and will appear first in their type. For example, wiki forum will find:

  • objects that include both terms
  • objects that include the term wiki
  • objects that include the term forum

1.1.2. Requiring terms

Add a plus sign ( + ) before a term to indicate that the term must appear in results. Example: +wiki forum will find objects containing at leastwiki. Objects with both terms and many occurences of the terms will appear first.

1.1.3. Excluding terms

Add a minus sign ( - ) before a term to indicate that the term must notappear in the results. To reduce a term's value without completely excluding it, use a tilde. Example: -wiki forum will find objects that do not contain wiki but contain forum

1.1.4. Grouping terms

Use parenthesis ( ) to group terms into subexpressions. Example: +wiki +(forum blog) will find objects that contain wiki and forum or that contain wiki and blog in any order.

1.1.5. Finding phrases

Use double quotes ( " " ) around a phrase to find terms in the exact order, exactly as typed. Example: "Alex Bell" will not find Bell Alex orAlex G. Bell.

1.1.6. Using wildcards

Add an asterisk ( * ) after a term to find objects that include the root word. For example, run* will find:

  • objects that include the term run
  • objects that include the term runner
  • objects that include the term running

1.1.7. Reducing a term's value

Add a tilde ( ~ ) before a term to reduce its value indicate to the ranking of the results. Objects that contain the term will appear lower than other objects (unlike the minus sign which will completely exclude a term). Example: +wiki ~forum will rate an object with only wiki higher that an object with wiki and forum.

1.1.8. Changing relevance value

Add a less than ( < ) or greater than ( > ) sign before a term to change the term's contribution to the overall relevance value assigned to a object. Example: +wiki +(>forum < blog) will find objects that containwiki and forum or wiki and blog in any order. wiki forum will be rated higher.

1.2. Boolean Search with 'Advanced Search' (tiki-searchindex.php)

1.2.1. Default search behavior

By default, all search terms are optional. It behaves like an OR logic. Objects that contain the more terms are rated higher in the results and will appear first. For example, wiki forum will find:

  • objects that include both tokenized terms
  • objects that include the term wiki
  • objects that include the term forum or forums

1.2.2. Boolean operators

You can use AND or OR or NOT also to do a boolean search. Example:wiki and forum will find objects with both terms. Example: wiki or forum will find objects with one of the term.

1.2.3. Grouping terms

Use parenthesis ( ) to group terms into subexpressions. Example: wiki and (forum blog) will find objects that contain wiki and forum or that contain wiki and blog in any order.

1.2.4. Finding phrases

Use double quotes ( " " ) around a phrase to find terms in the exact order, next to each other. Example: "Alex Bell" will not find Bell Alexor Alex G. Bell but Alex Bells.

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