Search operators

You can use special characters called search operators to refine or expand your searches.

Overview

You can search for data that starts with, ends with, contains, or sounds like the term you enter.

You can use search operators everywhere you can do a search, including authority fields. You can’t use them on date fields.

Note: Whenever you want to search on partial terms, such as part of a word or number, you must use a search operator.

Type of search	Operator	Format	Example
Starts with	]	Right square bracket after text.	pott] This example will find things that start with pott, like pottery, potter, potteries.
Ends with	[	Left square bracket before text.	[donald This example will find things that end with donald, such as McDonald, MacDonald.
Contains	[ ]	Square brackets around text.	[tree] This example will find things that contain tree, like trees, street.
Sounds like	[]	Square brackets before text.	[]women This example will find things that sound like women, such as woman.
Ranges	…	Three dots between numbers.	2010.1...2010.999 This example will find accession numbers in the range, such as 2010.12, 2010.180.
Greater than	>	Right angle bracket before a number.	>1000 This example will find numbers from 1001 to the highest number in the index.
Lesser than	<	Left angle bracket before a number.	<1000 This example will find numbers from 1 to 999.