Expert Archives - Search Examples

Following are some example searches constructed with our Expert search syntax. These may be helpful to you as models when you create your own more complex search queries.

For a complete guide to Expert Searching, please see our Expert Search Guide (PDF).

lead:near ("cowboy*", "ranch*", n=10) andnot ("nfl" or "football")

Retrieves the term "cowboy" (or cowboys) within 10 words of the term "ranch" (or ranches or ranchers…), both within the lead paragraph; also excludes stories containing either the term "NFL" or "football."

title:"stephen harper" and byline:"john smith" Retrieves articles with "Stephen Harper" in the title (headline), and with author John Smith.

"wayne gretzky" ANDNOT section:"sport*" Retrieves documents where Wayne Gretzky is mentioned anywhere in the article, but excludes articles from the sports section.

lead:"imax" AND section:("business" OR "financ*")

Articles where Imax is mentioned in the lead (which includes headline and first 500 words), but search is restricted to sections named "business" or that start with "Financ" (e.g. "Financial Post" or "Finances").

near("bank*", "merger", n=8) AND source:"canwest news service"

Articles where the term "Bank" (or banks, or banking, or bankers…) is mentioned within 8 words of the term "merger," and where the source is attributed to Canwest News Service.

"olympic*" AND page:"A1"

Articles containing the term "olympic" (or olympics) which were printed on page A1.

illus:(near (murder*, accused, n=5) or near(murder*, suspect*, n=5))

Finds articles that ran with an illustration, where the caption attached to the image has either "murder*" within 5 words of "accused," OR has "murder*" within 5 words of "suspect*".

title:"spiderman" AND ("movie" OR "film") AND stotype:"review"

Retrieves articles with "Spiderman" in the title, with "movie" or "film" anywhere in the document, and which have been classified as a review.

onear (solar, energy, n=2) OR onear (solar, power, n=2)

Finds articles where "solar" and "energy" are no more than 2 words apart, where solar comes before energy, OR where "solar" and "power" are no more than 2 words apart, where solar comes before power.

near (("tobacco" or "cigarett*"), ("consumption" or "spending" or "sales"), n=5)

Finds articles where at least one of "tobacco" OR "cigarette*" are within 5 words of either "consumption*" or "spending," or "sales."

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