| This proprietary search engine has very simple search controls. Don't try to make it complicated. | |
| Implied wildcard (*): | |
| Implied wildcard means that searching for the word "mr" will find "mr" (Model Railroader) and "mrh" (Model Railroad Hobbyist). This is the default in The Railroad Index. | |
| Implied "AND": | |
| Implied "AND" means that if you search for two or more words, you will get only items containing ALL the words. Try a search for "cpr" and note the number of items found, and then do the same for "boxcar". Now try "cpr boxcar". You will see that you get fewer items than from either of the previous searches. Adding another word to the search will NEVER increase the number of items found. This is the default in The Railroad Index. | |
| There are only two modifiers that change the operation: "+" and "-". | |
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Prefixing a search word with "+" overrides the implied wildcard. "+mr" will include only items containing the complete word "mr", and will omit items containing the word "mrh".
Prefixing a search word with "-" adds "NOT" to the search word. "-mr" will omit items containing "mr" and "mrh" (wildcard still applies). These two operators may be combined as "-+" (either order). "-+mr" will omit all items containing the word "mr", while including items containing "mrh". | Most other punctuation marks are ignored, including the quote mark ("). There is no phrase search. |
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Play with it a bit to get the feel of it.
While you are here, please sign the guest book, found in the left side menu of the search page. Thanks. | |