How to: Advanced search techniques
Finding requests by searching
When searching requests through the search box located above the grid view, there are several logical operators available to refine the accuracy of the search.
Wild-Card operator *
The Wild-Card operator is an asterisk *
Matches any set of characters. It can also be used within the search characters to act as a wild-card to find anything with a matching prefix and suffix.
Ex. -
If you wanted to find all requests for an item that has an identifier starting with "ABC", you would use the suffix operator, by entering: "ABC*". This would match "ABC123", "ABCIDG" and "ABC5AC".
To match any items that start with "ABC" and ends with "D" you would use "ABC*D" (searches for both a matching prefix and suffix), this search would result "ABCIDG".
AND operator +
The AND operator is a plus sign +
When used in a search between two words it will produce results that include both words or sets of characters.
Ex. –
When using the AND operator with requests containing “ABC”, “123”, and “ABC 123”. A search such as “ABC + 123” would produce a single resulting record of “ABC 123” as this is the occurrence where both sets of characters occur together.
OR operator |
The OR operator is a vertical bar |
When used in a search between two words it will produce results including either of the words or sets of characters provided.
Ex. –
When searching requests that contain the phrases “ABC”, “123”, and “ABC 123”. A search for “ABC | 123”, would result in all 3 requests being returned as they all contain either “ABC” or “123”
NOT operator -
The NOT operator is a negative sign -
When used between two words it will produce results including the first word, that don't include the second word.
Ex. –
When searching requests that contain the phrases “ABC”, “123”, and “ABC 123”. A search for “ABC -123”, would result in one request being returned as there is one request that contains “ABC” and not “123”, which would be “ABC”.
Phrase Search operator " "
The Phrase Search operator is a pair of quotations " "
When a searched word is surrounded by quotations the returning results will only contain the entire phrase.
Ex. -
When searching requests that contain the phrases “ABC”, “123”, and “ABC 123”. A search for ”ABC 123” , would result in one request being returned as there is one request that contains “ABC 123” as the whole phrase matching the defined phrase entirely as provided in the search.
Precedence operator ( )
The Precedence operator is a pair of parentheses ( )
This is an operator that allows the effective use of multiple operators.
Ex. -
When searching requests that contain the phrases “ABC”, “123”, “ABC123”, “ABC 123”, and “ABC 456”. A search for “ABC +(123 | 456)”, would result in two requests being returned as there are two request that contain both “ABC” and either “123” or “456”. Note that this would not return "ABC123" and if a request “ABC 123 456” existed it would also be returned as it not only contains “ABC” and either of the additional sets of characters defined within the Precedence operator separated with an Or operator, but both.
Search operators within Text/LongText Column heading filter ( )
This is an operator that allows the effective use of multiple operators when used in the column header filter of a text or long text field.
Ex. -
When searching using the column heading of a text or long text field with a single occurrence of each unique grid value “ABC”, “123, “ABC 123”, and “ABC 456””. A search for “(123 | 456)”, would result in three requests being returned as there are two request that contain “123” and and one request containing “456”. Note that this would not return "ABC" as it did not include any of the search criteria. This can be saved through a user specific view or for a view to be used by multiple users within a role.
Related articles