ActiveXTM Search

How To Specify Queries

Using the query page, you can do a full-text search for a word or phrase on this web site. Searches produce a list of files that contain the word or phrase anywhere in their text.

The rules for formulating queries are as follows:

• Queries are case-insensitive, so you can type your query in uppercase or lowercase.
• You may search for any word except for those in the exception list (for English, this includes a, an, and, as, and other common words) which are ignored during a search.
• Words in the exception list are treated as placeholders in phrase and proximity queries.
• Punctuation marks such as the period (.), colon (:), semicolon (;), and comma (,) are ignored during a search.
• To use specially-treated characters ( (&), (|), (^), (#), (@), ($), ((), ()) ) in a query, enclose your query in quotes (").
• You may use boolean operators (and, or, not) and the proximity operator (near) to specify additional search information.
• The wildcard character (*) may be used to match words with a given prefix. The query "esc*" matches the terms "ESC", "escape", and so on.
• Free-text queries can be specified without regard to query syntax.
• Vector space queries can be specified.
• OLE and file attribute property value queries can be issued.

Boolean and Proximity Operators

Wildcards

Free-Text Queries

Vector Space Queries

The query engine supports vector space queries. Vector queries return pages that match a list of words and phrases. The rank of each page indicates how well the page matched the query.

To search for	Example	Results
pages that contain specific words	light, bulb	files that best match the words
pages that contain weighted prefixes, words, and phrases	invent*, light[50], bulb[10], "light bulb"[400]	files that contain words prefixed by "invent", the words "light", "bulb", and the phrase "light bulb". The terms are weighted.

• Components in vector queries are separated by commas.
• Components in vector queries can be weighted using the [weight] syntax.
• Pages returned by vector queries don't necessarily match every term in the query.
• Vector queries work best when the results are sorted by rank.

Property Value Queries

• Relational property queries consist of an at character (@), a property name, a relational operator, and a property value. For example, to find all of the files larger than one million bytes, issue the query "@size > 1000000".
• Regular expression property queries consist of a pound character (#), a property name, and a regular expression for the property value. For example, to find to find all of the video (AVI) files, issue the query "#filename *.avi".

Property names

A more complete list of properties can be found here.

Relational operators

Relational operators are used in relational property queries.

To search for	Example	Results
property values in relation to a fixed value	@size < 100 @size <= 100 @size = 100 @size != 100 @size >= 100 @size > 100	files whose size matches the query
property values with all of a set of bits on	@attrib ^a 0x820	compressed files with the archive bit on
property values with some of a set of bits on	@attrib ^s 0x20	files with the archive bit on

Property values

To search for	Example	Results
a specific value	@DocAuthor = Bill Gates	files authored by "Bill Gates"
values beginning with a prefix	#DocAuthor George*	files whose author property begins with "George"
files with any of a set of extensions	#filename *.|(exe|,dll|,sys|)	files with ".exe", ".dll", or ".sys" extensions
files modified after a date	@write > 96/2/14 10:00:00	files modified after February 14, 1996 at 10:00 GMT
files modified after a relative date	@write > -1d2h	files modified in the last 26 hours
vectors matching a vector	@vectorprop = { 10, 15, 20 }	OLE documents with a vectorprop value of { 10, 15, 20 }
vectors where each value matches a criteria	@vectorprop >^a 15	OLE documents with a vectorprop value in which all values in the vector are greater than 15
vectors where at least one value matches a criteria	@vectorprop =^s 15	OLE documents with a vectorprop value in which at least one value is 15

• Be sure to use the pound (#) character before the property name when using a regular expression in a property value, and an at (@) character otherwise. The equal (=) relational operator is assumed for regular expression queries.
• File name (#filename) is the only property that supports regular expressions with wildcards to the left of text. Wildcards in regular expressions for all other properties must come after a prefix.
• Date and time values are of the form yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss. The first two characters of the year and the entire time can be omitted. Dates and times are in GMT.
• Dates and times relative to the current time can be expressed with a minus (-) character followed by zero or more integer and time unit pairs. Time units are expressed as: (y) for years, (m) for months, (w) for weeks, (d) for days, (h) for hours, (n) for minutes, and (s) for seconds.
• Currency values are of the form x.y, where x is the whole value amount and y is the fractional amount. There is no assumption about units.
• Boolean values are (t) or (true) for true and (f) or (false) for false.
• Vectors (VT_VECTOR) are expressed as an opening brace ({), a comma-separated list of values, then a closing brace (}).
• Single value expressions that are compared against vectors are expressed as a relational operator, then a (^a) for All Of or a (^s) for Some Of.
• Numeric values can be in decimal or hex (preceeded by 0x).
• The contents property does not support relational operators. If a relational operator is specified, no results will be found. For example, "@contents Microsoft" will find documents containing Microsoft, but "@contents=Microsoft" will find none.

Regular expressions

Regular expressions in property queries are defined as follows:

• Any character except, *, ., ?, and | defaults to matching just itself.
• Regular expressions can enclosed in matching quotes ("), and must be enclosed in quotes if they contain a space ( ) or closing parenthesis ()).
• *, ., and ? behave as you might expect (match any number of characters, match (.) or end of sentence, and match any one character)
• | is an escape character. After |, the following characters have special meaning:
  • ( opens a group. Must be followed by a matching )
  • ) closes a group. Must be preceded by a matching (
  • [ opens a character class. Must be followed by a matching (un-escaped) ]
  • { opens a counted match. Must be followed by a matching }
  • } closes a counted match. Must be preceded by a matching {
  • , separates OR clauses
  • * matches zero of more occurrences of preceding expression.
  • ? matches zero or one occurrences of preceding expression.
  • + matches one or more occurrences of preceding expression.
  • anything else, including | matches itself
• Between [ and ] the following characters have special meaning:
  • ^ Match everything but following classes. Must be the first character.
  • ] Matches ]. May only be preceded by ^, otherwise it closes the class.
  • - Range operator. Preceded and followed by normal characters
  • anything else matches itself (or begins/ends a range at itself)
• Between { and } the following syntax applies:
  • |{m|} matches exactly m occurrences of the preceding expression. (0 < m < 256)
  • |{m,|} matches at least m occurrences of the preceding expression. (1 < m < 256)
  • |{m,n|} matches between m and n occurrences of the preceding expression, inclusive. (0 < m < 256, 0 < n < 256)

Query Examples

Example	Results
@size > 1000000	pages larger than one million bytes
@write > 95/12/23	pages modified after the date
Apple tree	pages with the phrase "apple tree"
"apple tree"	same as above
@contents apple tree	same as above
Microsoft and @size > 1000000	pages with the word "Microsoft" that are larger than one million bytes
"microsoft and @size > 1000000"	pages with the phrase specified (not the same as above)
#filename *.avi	video files. (the '#' prefix is used because the query contains a regular expression)
@attrib ^s 32	pages with the archive attribute bit on
@docauthor = William Gates	pages with the given author
$contents why is the sky blue?	pages that match the query
@size < 100 & #filename *.gif	GIF files less than 100 bytes in size

List of Property Names