? and *
? and * can both be used in queries within agents. They are not used for searches withing the Digimind Content Factory.
The ? cannot be used in agents that track packs of sources from the URL Store.
The * can be used to filter alerts from the URL Store.
?
? replaces one symbol, included the space.
If I would like to search for dog or dogs I can write dog?
*
* replaces more than one symbol
dog* is the same as dog, dogs, doggies, dog-eared, dogsbody, etc.
combining * and ? with " " and ( )
The quotation marks " " look for a specific string of letters or symbols. For example "dog biscuit".
It is therefore not possible to use ? or * inside them.
A query of "dog biscuit?" would only bring back results containing phrases like "Would you like a dog biscuit?"
However, it is possible to use both ? and * inside ( ).
A query of (dog* OR cat*) AND biscuit would bring back results about biscuits and cats, cat, catastrophe, dog, dog-eared, etc.
Using * and ? in a smart way
- for plurals - dog / dogs = dog?
- for differences in international spelling - color / colour = colo?r
- for the roots of words with more than one ending - articulate / articulation / articulated = articulat*
Comments
3 comments
Thanks Cate, that sure helps.
That will reduce the size of my queries a lot.
Is there a way to use it on DCF?
Hello Lucas,
At the moment ? and * cannot be used directly in the DCF.
But, there is a crafty way around this.
Start with a simple search in the DCF. You'll get a page of results. You can then click on "monitor this search" at the top.
This will take you to your list of agents and you can choose which agent you would like to add this flux to. At the bottom of the list you will see:
If you would like to apply the query from the agent keep the box checked.
And this is the crafy part: the query in the agent can include ? and *.
Hope this helps.
Cate
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