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Complex Boolean searches can be performed by choosing "the Boolean expression" from the above pull down menu and using the standard Boolean operators not, and, or or. If you search for "dogs not pizzas", you'll find all documents containing the word "dogs" except those documents which also contain the word "pizzas". If you type in "and hot and dog and pizzas", you'll find only those documents which contain all three search terms. The default value is or. Thus, a search for "hot dog pizzas" would return pages with at least one of the three terms.Altavista's shorthand notation works too. A search on "dogs -hot" is equivalent to the first example, and "+hot +dog +pizzas" will return the same documents as the second.
To group a collection of words, use quotes. For example, the query "Zoltan Milosevic" (quotes included) would not generate a hit from "Slobodan Milosevic met with Zoltan Smith". Without quotes, the sentence would count. Boolean operators can also act on quotations: a search on '+the +kitten not "the kitten"' would return only those documents where "the" and "kitten" appear separately.
BlunderSearch finds words, not strings. A search for "in" would turn up only that word, not "bin", "inside", or "acquaintance". To perform a string search, preface your term with the dollar sign - a query on "\$in" would find all words lists above. Note that more complex wildcard searches using the asterisk are not permitted. Including the asterisk in your query will return a list of all files, but that's its only function.
These rules are based on Altavista's query syntax; a look at their Search Tips may prove useful.
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