Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!howland.erols.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!firehose.mindspring.com!not-for-mail From: webmaster@infobasic.com Newsgroups: alt.journalism.freelance Subject: Web and Internet Search Engine FAQ Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 17:04:45 GMT Organization: Infobasic Inc Lines: 194 Message-ID: <38552720.24015354@nntp.mindspring.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: a5.79.50.65 X-Server-Date: 13 Dec 1999 17:02:24 GMT X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.21/32.243 Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.journalism.freelance:12009 (WISE FAQ (copyright) 1997-1998-1999) Copyright 1997-1998-1999 Ken Bogucki krb@infobasic.com WISE FAQ (c) Ver. 4.0 Dec. 1999 ============================== *** A FREE Windows 95/98 Search Engine Help File and Tutorial is available at http://infobasic.com *** Infobasic has set up a new and greatly expanded list of search and search engine resources at http://infobasic.com/sengine/index.shtml Please feel free to submit appropriate URLs to the directory *** An expanded HTML version of this FAQ is available at http://infobasic.com *** Infobasic has also created a number of easily searched databases: International Organizations, Think Tanks, USA University and Public libraries. ============================== All email queries, complaints or corrections to krb@infobasic.com COPYRIGHT This FAQ is copyrighted material. The copyright is owned by the author of this FAQ, Ken Bogucki krb@infobasic.com This FAQ may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes without the express written permission of the author. This FAQ may be used for non-commercial purposes as long as the author is notified in advance and the entire FAQ is used without alterations (except for formatting purposes) and the copyright notice & warranty notice remain intact and a part of the FAQ. WARRANTY. This FAQ is an AS-IS document. REFERENCE CARD The double brackets [] in the reference card are not part of the query syntax. **** ALTA VISTA http://www.altavista.digital.com [apples "orange juice"] "apples" or the phrase "orange juice" [+apples -"orange juice"] "apples" & not the phrase "orangejuice" [app* (wildcard)] "apples", "applets", "appraise" (wildcard in Alta Vista requires Min. of three letters before the wildcard and will return from 0-5 characters Max.) Complex Searches (Can use either logical word or symbol expressions) AND or &, OR or |, AND NOT or !, NEAR or ~ [apple AND orange] "apple" & the word "orange" [apple OR orange] "apple" or the word "orange" [apples AND NOT oranges] "apples" but not the word "oranges" [apple NEAR juice] "juice" within ten words of "apple" RESTRICTING A SIMPLE AND COMPLEX SEARCH [anchor:click-here] pages with "click-here" in the hyperlink. [applet:] pages with the Java class in the applet tag [domain:xyz] pages in the domain "xyz" [host:xyz.com] sites at the host name xyz.com. [image:a.jpg] sites with an image tag, "a.jpg". [link:xyz.com] sites with a link to xyz.com. [text:orange] sites with "orange" in the visible text [title:"A, B and C"] sites with "A, B and C" in the title. RANKING Simple searches: The ranking is automatic. Complex searches: Enter any word or groups of words in the ranking window. Alta Vista will sort the results based on these words. **** EXCITE http://www.excite.com Concept Based Search [+apples +pears] "apples" and "pears" [-apples +peach] "peach" but not "apples" [+apples -pears -berries] "apples" but not "peaches" or "berries" Exact match queries use Logical Word Expressions to find Web documents. The Logical Word Operator are: AND, OR, AND NOT. Using logical word expressions will turn off Excite's concept based option. Precise searches require the use of Logical Word Operators. [apples AND peaches] pages with "apples" and "peaches" [apples OR peaches] pages with either "apples" or "peaches" [apples AND NOT peaches] pages with "apples" but not with"peaches" **** LYCOS http://www.lycos.com STANDARD SEARCH Standard searches do not use logical word operators. [apples oranges peaches] pages where any of the words appear [apples +berries] "apples" and "berries" [apples -berries] "apples" but not "berries" CUSTOM SEARCHES Complex searches are done through an intuitive menu interface. **** WEBCRAWLER http://www.webcrawler.com [apples oranges or apples OR oranges] pages that contain any of the words. [apples AND oranges] "apples" and "oranges" [fruit NOT apples] "fruit" but not "apples" [cheese NEAR/(x) wine] "wine" is within "x" words of "cheese" [world ADJ war] "world" & "war" are next to each other [".. " Phrases searches] "us army", "jack and jill went up the hill" [(..)] used to organize search expressions **** Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com Advanced Options: [apples +oranges] "apples" as well as "oranges" [apples -oranges] "apples" but not with "oranges". [t:] confines the search to certain Web titles. [u:] confines the search to certain URLs. [" "] phrase operator "orange juice", "apple juice", etc. [pea* (wildcard)] "pears", "peas", "peaches" etc. **** Infoseek http://www.infoseek.com Simple Searches [apples oranges] either "apples" or "oranges". [+apples oranges] "apples", pages with "oranges" are ranked lower. ["apple juice"] "apple" and "juice" appear next to each other. Caps are used to indicate proper names and a case sensitive search: [Johnny Appleseed] will find the name "Johnny Appleseed". [Johnny,Appleseed] will find either name. Note: commas are only used to separate names. [apples -grapes] "apples" but not "grapes". Complex Searches [fruit | apple | juice] will find "fruit" then search results for "apple" then search those results for "juice". [title:fruit] "fruit" in the title of the page. [url:www.orange.com] sites with address "www.orange.com". [url:fruit] sites with "fruit" in the URL, "www.fruit.com" or "www.fruitandnuts.com". [link:www.juice.com] will find sites linked to the specified URL [site:xyz.com] will find all sites at the specified address. **** Contact Information Ken Bogucki krb@infobasic.com http://www.infobasic.com/ END WISE FAQ (c) ========================= .