Searching the forum: logical AND??
 

Hi.

I tried searching the forums for some terms that have to be together to get some decent results. I don't see a "all these terms" checkbox, and "AND" and "&&" didn't work either. It always showed "searched for x OR y OR z".
Is there a way to search for 'all terms' instead of 'any term'?

I use this google search.

I'm fairly certain that "AND" is the default for almost all search engines. Any hits that include all terms should show up first, before any that have only a subset of them.

Google uses "+term" to specify a term that is required. But I tried it here with "grub +lilo" and "grub lilo" (titles only), and got the same results, so I think the forum search just ignores the extra characters.

The default for searches is the AND operator, but keep in mind the default is also to search threads and not posts. You can also search for "exact terms".

--jeremy

++1

Also, keep in mind that the pending code update will bring with it a much improved search. The search at http://www.androidquestions.org/forum.php is based on the same code, so can be used as a demo.

--jeremy

Fixed, I guess
 

Hm. Now I'm unable to reproduce what I got. The search result page explicitly stated "x OR y OR z". I can't remember the x, y and z, though. I hadn't tried '+' yet. So thanks for mentioning that. Also thanks for the Google link.
I can't really see differences on the surface with the Androidquestions search. (And that link crashes Opera :-X )

AHA!
 

Found it. If you select "sort by relevancy" it always searches OR. Is this intentional/inevitable?

I'm able to reproduce the "sort by relevancy" behavior you described, but as mentioned in post #6 the search is being completely replaced in the near future. Thanks for the feedback. If you have any comments on the AQ search, do let us know.

--jeremy

It seems it still hasn't been fixed. I think patience is a valor. But the previous reply could be a free-pass to postpone it indefinitely. I have to admit I don't follow linuxquestions' development. Which leaves me wondering: when can I expect the big update to happen?
I personally like forum-based searches to pinpoint hard-to-search-for terms to certain categories. Sorting by relevancy is key in such situations.

Searching has long been an intermittent problem here on LQ. Particularly the inexplicable loss of the logical AND.
jeremy, I can confirm I see the OR listed as the search target when relevancy is selected. Not only that, attempting to re-select "Last posting date" is ignored - and the search that had been successful subsequently fails to find anything.

Very frustrating.

I have defaulted to searching "by posts" as suggested above - that eliminates (most of) the chaff, and may suffice for the OP as well.

I don't have an exact ETA for you, but ideally some time late next quarter. As we start to test and firm things up, much information will be posted here in the LQS&F forum.

--jeremy