Adobe ColdFusion 8

Using simple queries

The simple query is the default query type and is appropriate for the vast majority of searches. When entering text on a search form, you perform a simple query by entering a word or comma-delimited strings, with optional wildcard characters. Verity treats each comma as a logical OR. If you omit the commas, Verity treats the expression as a phrase.

Important: Many web search engines assume a logical AND for multiple word searches, and search for a phrase only if you use quotation marks. Because Verity treats multiple word searches differently, it might help your users if you provide examples on your search page or a brief explanation of how to search.

The following table shows examples of simple searches:

Example

Search result

low,brass,instrument

low or brass or instrument

low brass instrument

the phrase, low brass instrument

film

film, films, filming, or filmed

filming AND fun

film, films, filming, or filmed, and fun

filming OR fun

film, films, filming, or filmed, or fun

filming NOT fun

film, films, filming, or filmed, but not fun

The operators AND and OR, and the modifier NOT, do not require angle brackets (<>). Operators typically require angle brackets and are used in explicit queries. For more information about operators and modifiers, see Operators and modifiers.

Stemming in simple queries

By default, Verity interprets words in a simple query as if you entered the STEM operator (and MANY modifier). The STEM operator searches for words that derive from a common stem. For example, a search for instructional returns files that contain instruct, instructs, instructions, and so on.

The STEM operator works on words, not word fragments. A search for "instrument" returns documents containing "instrument," "instruments," "instrumental," and "instrumentation," whereas a search for "instru" does not. (A wildcard search for instru* returns documents with these words, and also those with instruct, instructional, and so on.)

Note: The MANY modifier presents the files returned in the search as a list based on a relevancy score. A file with more occurrences of the search word has a higher score than a file with fewer occurrences. As a result, the search engine ranks files according to word density as it searches for the word that you specify, as well as words that have the same stem. For more information on the MANY modifier, see Modifiers.

In CFML, enter your search terms, operators, and modifiers in the criteria attribute of the cfsearch tag:

<cfsearch name="search_name"
    collection="bbb"
    type="simple"
criteria="instructional">

Preventing stemming

When entering text on a search form, you can prevent Verity from implicitly adding the STEM operator by doing one of the following:

  • Perform an explicit query.
  • Use the WORD operator. For more information, see Operators.
  • Enclose the search term that has double-quotation marks with single-quotation marks, as follows: 
    <cfsearch name="search_name"
    collection="bbb"
    type="simple"
criteria='"instructional"'