Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9228
 | | 04/18/2004 12:32 AM |
| It seems the Search function on VC causes some confusion for members. Most recently, Purple complained that her search for the 2001 Pride Cab and Olive Oil returned no results, so I thought I would kick off a thread with a few tips that work for me and, hopefully, will help others. Please add your search tips here also.
First and most importantly, there can be no leading or trailing spaces in your search term. The space character will match every post ever made, regardless if it contains your keyword or not.
Secondly, if you are searching for a phrase, it must be enclosed in quotation marks. A search for:
"Olive Oil" will return all threads with the exact phrase "Olive Oil". However, a search for:
Olive Oil
Will match ever document due to the space character between your two key words.
Now, suppose you don't want to search by exact phrase, but know some of the words that are contained in the post you are seeking. In this case, use of the plus sign (+) is how this is accomplished. For example, recently CWG was looking for a previous rant about Pillar Rock's mailer claiming the wine was worth $500. Not knowing the exact phrasing in the post I am seeking, I searched as follows:
+Pillar +rock +$500
Alternately, knowing the author was ChicagoWineGeek, I could have narrowed my search even further by including that search term in the Username Search field.
Now, supposing I wanted to search for all tasting notes on Pride Cabernet for every vintage except the 2001 vintage. I would do so with the minus sign(-) sign as follows:
+pride +cabernet -2001
Taking this one step further, you can mix it up a bit. Supposing you know a phrase that you are searching for, but you also want to include an additional piece of text in your search that may occur elsewhere in the post. You would accomplish by using both quotation marks and plus sign(s) as follows:
+"pride cabernet" +2001 -1999
The above search will return all posts with the exact phrase "pride cabernet" which also include the keyword "2001", but do not include the keyword "1999". Please note that when you mix quotation marks with additional search parameters, the leading plus sign (or minus sign) is required.
Finally, something kinda cool you may not know. When your search results are returned to you, assuming your search found results, you will have a list of posts to click on. If you open one up and then wish to return to the list of search results, click on the index button.
Hope this helps. If others have handy dandy search tips, please add to this thread! | | | |
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Illinicellar
Grape Sorter
Posts:348
| | 04/18/2004 2:05 AM |
| | Eric, thanks for the tips and a great idea for a post! I've had some trouble finding things I've been searching for. VC...still the best wine place to be! | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:12891
| | 04/18/2004 2:18 AM |
| one thing i have noticed about search, it is easier earlier in the night before the bottle is empty.  | | | |
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Budman
Master of Wine
Posts:11874
| | 04/18/2004 3:51 AM |
| I take it that your recent searches have been less than successful!    | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 04/18/2004 4:21 AM |
| | Eric, in your examples, you left spaces after the + or - signs. I've been doing it without spaces and having no luck. Is it because I omitted the spaces? | | | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12485
| | 04/18/2004 5:08 AM |
| | Honestly, I never have a problem with search. But, Eric W's suggestions are very helpful. Not much more to + from me. | | | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9228
| | 04/18/2004 3:30 PM |
| Quote:
Eric, in your examples, you left spaces after the + or - signs. I've been doing it without spaces and having no luck. Is it because I omitted the spaces?
Correct Board-O, it's weird - you must have the spaces when using plus and minus signs, but you cannot have spaces otherwise. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 04/18/2004 3:39 PM |
| | Thanks, Eric. I will be a better searcher from now on thanks to you. | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13707
| | 04/18/2004 3:55 PM |
| Quote:
Quote:
Eric, in your examples, you left spaces after the + or - signs. I've been doing it without spaces and having no luck. Is it because I omitted the spaces?
Correct Board-O, it's weird - you must have the spaces when using plus and minus signs, but you cannot have spaces otherwise.
That is bizarre, Eric, but I'll take your word for it. I'll post back here if I have different results. BTW, vielen dank for the tutorial. I'd been using some of your posted tips already, but had not done any of the mixing up suggestions you had. Grazie! | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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Bradley Molzen
Bayonne, NJ
Wine Lover
Posts:4986
| | 04/19/2004 9:14 PM |
| Good post EW.
Quote:
Secondly, if you are searching for a phrase, it must be enclosed in quotation marks. A search for:
"Olive Oil" will return all threads with the exact phrase "Olive Oil". However, a search for:
Olive Oil
Will match ever document due to the space character between your two key words.
I had always thought it a little different.... if you search for
olive oil
I always though it return every post with the word olive, and every post with the word oil, but not necessarily both. Perhaps someone feels like testing. :-)
Anyhow, I just make sure to do phrase searches.... "olive oil" and it pretty much always find what I need. | |
If you drink wine, you get smarter.... | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 04/19/2004 9:26 PM |
| | Is "olive oil" any different than olive + oil? | | | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9228
| | 04/19/2004 9:29 PM |
| Board-O, yes - they are different.
"Olive Oil" will return the posts with the exact phrase
+Olive +oil will return all posts with both those words, but in any order within the post. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 04/19/2004 10:18 PM |
| | Thanks. I'm going to be a great searcher. | | | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9228
| | 04/19/2004 11:57 PM |
| Quote:
I had always thought it a little different.... if you search for
olive oil
I always though it return every post with the word olive, and every post with the word oil, but not necessarily both. Perhaps someone feels like testing. :-)
Rev, I just tested it and lo and behold you are correct. A search for:
Olive Oil
Works as an "or", it will return any post with either keyword. | | | |
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David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
Master Sommelier
Posts:15756
| | 04/20/2004 2:18 AM |
| That has always been my problem before I figured out the quotation marks.
I would search for 1999 Kistler and would get every 1999 wine ever.
If you search for In Flagrante you get every post with "in" in it plus you get every post that has an "i" and an "n" next to each other in any word. Insider, mandolin, valentine, etc.
"love these parens" | | | |
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ChangeMe
Barrel Racker
Posts:1907
| | 04/20/2004 3:45 PM |
| | THANKS Eric!! This is a big help to me! | | | |
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rjs3
NJ
Barrel Filler
Posts:1124
| | 05/10/2004 5:22 PM |
| | I've had trouble going back to my list of hits -- I get that "Warning: Page expired" lately (I've noticed that not only here, though. Any help? | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13707
| | 12/30/2004 7:15 PM |
| | **bump** | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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