options random home http://www.oracle.com/siteadmin/html/search.help.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
Search

Using Search

Oracle provides you with a search facility for finding information in our web pages quickly and easily.

First, select either "All categories" or "Select categories."

If you select "Select categories," you should then click on the specific categories listed which you feel apply to the topic you are interested in. There is no limit to the number of categories you may click on.

If you select "All categories," the search engine will search all of Oracle's Web pages for the key words you type into the text area.

After you have selected what category you are interested in, you should then type in the key words you are interested in searching for. The search engine will then return a list of pages for you to choose from which make reference to the key word(s) you typed in. If you wish to expand the number of maximum pages the search will return, click on the number after "Limit search to." You will be given the option of selecting anywhere from 20 to 60 hits.

If you decide that your category was too narrow, and wish to switch from selecting a category to all categories, simply click the "All categories" button on the form.

Some Search Query Tips

You don't need to put quotes around search words. You can use the booleans and, or, or not in searching. Without these booleans, the search engine will assume you're anding the words together. Evaluation takes place from left to right only, although you can use parentheses to force the order of evaluation. You can also use wildcards (asterisks) to search for matches to the beginnings of words only - you can't put asterisks at the front or in the middle of words.

Search Examples:

  1. john and doe or jane
    This search evaluates the expression from left to right.
  2. john and (doe or not jane)
    This search will also be evaluated from left to right, although the operation in parentheses will be evaluated as a whole first.
  3. not (john or jane) and doe
    john or jane will be evaluated first, a not operation will be performed on that, then everything will be anded with doe.
  4. j* and doe
    This will search for all files that contain words starting with the letter j and that also contain doe.

No Hits Found

Getting no hits returned from the search engine can imply one of two things: In either case, try searching again with a different query. See above for help in formulating your search.

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