How the Solution Works

Search for	Example	Results
A single word	`cat`	Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats".
A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase.	`"cat food"` (quotation marks)	Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase.

Search for	Operator	Example
Two or more words in the same topic	`AND` `and` `+` (plus symbol) `&` (ampersand)	`cat AND dog` `"cat food"+milk` `"cat food"&"dog food"`
Either word in a topic	`OR` `or` `\|` (pipe)	`cat OR dog` `cat \| dog`
Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase	`NOT` `not` `!` (exclamation point)	`NOT cat` `! dog`
Topics that contain one string and do not contain another	`^` (caret)	`cat ^ mouse`
A combination of search types	`( )` parentheses	`cat + (dog \| mouse)` `cat \| dog + (! mouse)`

Two or more words in the same topic

AND and

+ (plus symbol)

& (ampersand)

cat AND dog

"cat food"+milk

"cat food"&"dog food"

Either word in a topic

OR or

| (pipe)

cat OR dog

cat | dog

Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase

NOT not

! (exclamation point)

NOT cat

! dog

Topics that contain one string and do not contain another

^ (caret)

cat ^ mouse

A combination of search types

( ) parentheses

cat + (dog | mouse)

cat | dog + (! mouse)

How the solution works