# Search Help
## Basic Search Form The [[WebSearch]] form offers basic search features: - Search field: Enter one or more keywords - All webs flag: Check the flag if you want to search all public webs, not just the current web - Scope: Select if you want to search the topic title, text body or both The search is keyword based like in a typical search engine: - Specify word(s) you want to find - Multiple words form an **AND** search, `intranet web service` returns all pages that have the three words anywhere in the page - Optionally specify plus signs for **AND** search, like `intranet +web +service` - Enclose words in double quotes to form a **literal search**, like `"web service"` - Specify a minus sign to **exclude** a word, like `soap -shampoo` - Use double quotes if you want to search for a leading minus sign, like `"-nowarn"` - **Stop words** are excluded from a keyword search: - Stop words are common words and characters such as `"how"` and `"where"`, defined in the SEARCHSTOPWORDS setting in the [[TWikiPreferences]] - If you want to search for a word in the stop word list, prefix the word with a plus sign - **Example:** To search for all topics that contain `"SOAP"`, `"WSDL"`, a literal `"web service"`, but not `"shampoo"`,%BR% enter this: `soap +wsdl "web service" -shampoo` ## Advanced Search Form The [[WebSearchAdvanced]] form offers more control over search. TWiki supports three types of searches: - `keyword`: The basic search type - `literal`: Simple search where text is searched literally - `regex`: A [[RegularExpression]] search for power users TWiki's regex search is a set of regular expression patterns: - Patterns are delimited by a semicolon - An AND search is performed for the list of patterns - An exclamation point preceeding a pattern indicates an AND NOT search; use it to exclude a pattern, like `!web service` - If you want to search for a semicolon or an exclamation point, escape them with a leading backslash, like `\!shampoo` - **Example:** To search for all topics that contain `"SOAP"`, `"WSDL"`, a literal `"web service"`, but not `"shampoo"`,%BR% enter this: `soap;wsdl;web service;!shampoo` ## Formatted Searches You can embed a nicely [[formatted search|Main/FormattedSearch]] in a topic by using the `%SEARCH{}%` variable described in [[TWikiVariables]]. ## Search Preferences The [[TWikiPreferences]] has these settings: - `SEARCHDEFAULTTTYPE`: Default search type for search forms which calls the `search` script - `SEARCHVARDEFAULTTYPE`: Default search type for `%SEARCH{}` variable - `SEARCHSTOPWORDS`: List of stop words -- TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny - 18 Jan 2004