How do I search using query modifiers?

Query modifiers can be used to further refine "all the words" and "any of the words" search settings as well as Boolean searches. When entering search terms into the main or Modify text boxes, you can use quotation marks around phrases ("search engines") and plus and minus signs before words and phrases (+sports -"ice hockey").

Name / Symbol / Description

quotation marks
" "

Quotation marks are used to denote exact phrases. For example, a search on "New York Times" will match only documents containing the words as an exact phrase. It will not find pages with the words used in a different order, such as "New times in York!" plus operator + The plus operator placed before a word or phrase requires that all returned pages contain that search term. For example, JFK +CIA will return only pages mentioning the CIA, but pages that also mention JFK will be ranked higher in the results.

minus operator
-

The minus operator placed before a word or phrase excludes all documents containing that search term. For example, searching for "Three Musketeers" -candy will help you find Web pages about the book and the movies without getting articles about the candy bar.