Boolean search is a search with the ability to set logical conditions for the presence or absence of certain keywords or phrases in the text.
In this online Boolean search app, conditions are specified using the special words AND, OR, NOT – always in upper case. In this case, the word AND forms a query for which all files will be found, where there are words from the left and right parts of the AND expression at the same time. The word OR forms a query for which all files will be found, where there are words from the left or right sides of the OR expression, or from both at the same time. The combination of words AND NOT forms a query for which all files will be found where the words from the left side of the expression are present, but the words from the right side of the expression are absent.
A boolean search example using the word AND: "Einstein AND Albert". This query will return all files whose text content contains both the words "Einstein" and "Albert".
A boolean search example using the word OR: "relativity OR quantum". This query will return all files whose text content contains at least one of the two words – "relativity", "quantum".
A boolean search example using the words AND NOT: "quantum AND NOT Einstein". This query will return all files whose text content contains the word "quantum" but does not contain the word "Einstein".
The full-text search engine GroupDocs.Search, on which this application is based, supports arbitrary depth of nesting of boolean search operators. Parentheses can be used to specify the order in which a boolean expression is evaluated.
You can perform boolean search in many file formats. Please see the full list below.