Internet search engines that use boolean search?
April 7, 2011 1:10 PM Subscribe
Are there high quality internet search engines that recognize boolean rather than a natural language search queries?
I hate natural language search. Well, sometimes I hate it. Often, I want to search using complex boolean-stlye queries, rather than the less focused method of just plugging a few terms in. I know that I can add precision to a Google or similar search by using quotation marks and other operators. However, often what I want is to use a more complex boolean string, for example: (((A or B or C) and D) or (E)) and not F. These are the sort of queries I learned to use on Lexis, Nexis, and Westlaw. I have not found a way to get Google to recognize this search syntax.
Ideally I would like to find something very similar to Google, that could search the internet or within particular sites, which would recognize my boolean search strings. Ideally, this search engine would also have defenses similar to those that Google uses to weed out content farms and other SEO gaming. Also, I'd like the search engine to be as "good" as possible, in terms of how many pages it reaches, speed, etc.
Apologies in advance if I am not using correct terminology here. This is an area where I know just enough to get myself in trouble...
I hate natural language search. Well, sometimes I hate it. Often, I want to search using complex boolean-stlye queries, rather than the less focused method of just plugging a few terms in. I know that I can add precision to a Google or similar search by using quotation marks and other operators. However, often what I want is to use a more complex boolean string, for example: (((A or B or C) and D) or (E)) and not F. These are the sort of queries I learned to use on Lexis, Nexis, and Westlaw. I have not found a way to get Google to recognize this search syntax.
Ideally I would like to find something very similar to Google, that could search the internet or within particular sites, which would recognize my boolean search strings. Ideally, this search engine would also have defenses similar to those that Google uses to weed out content farms and other SEO gaming. Also, I'd like the search engine to be as "good" as possible, in terms of how many pages it reaches, speed, etc.
Apologies in advance if I am not using correct terminology here. This is an area where I know just enough to get myself in trouble...
Google understands a limited and rudimentary amout of boolean search terms. "OR" is there, and has higher precedence than the implicit AND. "-" means NOT. Your example, "(((A or B or C) and D) or (E)) and not F" would have to be done in two searches in Google-ese: "A OR B OR C D -F" and "E -F"
posted by zsazsa at 1:23 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by zsazsa at 1:23 PM on April 7, 2011
Was going to say Duck Duck Go, but DarlingBri beat me to it. Great search tool. Takes a little getting used to, but it's super useful and versatile--especially once you start learning the bang operators.
posted by willpie at 1:40 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by willpie at 1:40 PM on April 7, 2011
Jumping in on that, Lexis and West have search terms such as /n, where "n" is some specified number of words. So, for example, "insurance /5 subrogation" means the two words within five words of each other. There's also /s and /p for words in the same sentence and same paragraph.
This is incredibly useful, but Google doesn't seem to play ball.
posted by valkyryn at 1:42 PM on April 7, 2011
This is incredibly useful, but Google doesn't seem to play ball.
posted by valkyryn at 1:42 PM on April 7, 2011
zsazsa: "Google understands a limited and rudimentary amout of boolean search terms. "OR" is there, and has higher precedence than the implicit AND. "-" means NOT. Your example, "(((A or B or C) and D) or (E)) and not F" would have to be done in two searches in Google-ese: "A OR B OR C D -F" and "E -F"
Spot on, though I prefer the more aesthetically pleasing pipe "|" over "OR". Combining pipes with quotes and minuses usually gets me a long way with google.
posted by turkeyphant at 2:06 PM on April 7, 2011
Spot on, though I prefer the more aesthetically pleasing pipe "|" over "OR". Combining pipes with quotes and minuses usually gets me a long way with google.
posted by turkeyphant at 2:06 PM on April 7, 2011
You can do those kinds of searches in Google by using the square brackets around your query.
And, as I just learned, you can do the thing valkyryn mentions by using "word AROUND(n) word" where n is the number of words.
posted by grapesaresour at 2:08 PM on April 7, 2011
And, as I just learned, you can do the thing valkyryn mentions by using "word AROUND(n) word" where n is the number of words.
posted by grapesaresour at 2:08 PM on April 7, 2011
Ah, you're right about the square bracket part. That did seem weird since I've done plenty of boolean searches without them. :)
posted by grapesaresour at 2:38 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by grapesaresour at 2:38 PM on April 7, 2011
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posted by DarlingBri at 1:21 PM on April 7, 2011 [4 favorites]