Boolean Searches
askSam allows the use of the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT to combine the elements in your search.

      Enter:      golf and tennis and beach
      Find:      documents containing the words golf, tennis, and beach

      Enter:      golf tennis beach
      Find:      documents containing the words golf, tennis, and beach
            This search is identical to the first search.

      Enter:      Florida or Hawaii or California
      Find:      documents containing the word Florida, Hawaii, or California

      Enter:      not expensive and not crowded
      Find:      documents which do not contain the words expensive and crowded

      Enter:      red white or blue
      Find:      documents containing red and either the word white or the word blue.

      Enter:      red and white or blue
      Find:      documents containing either red and white or the word blue.


Wildcard Searches
Your Searches can include the wildcard symbols * and ?. The * replaces multiple characters (up to 80). The ? replaces a single character.

      Enter:      German*
      Find:      Germany, Germanic, Germans, ...

      Enter:      *CAD
      Find:      AutoCAD, NiCad, ...

      Enter:      80?86
      Find:      80286, 80386, 80486, ...

Searching for Phrases
When you enter two words in a search, the Web Publisher retrieves all documents containing these two words:

      Enter:      Windows Write
      Find:      With XYZ for Windows you can write mail merge letters.

To find words directly next to each other, place square brackets [ ] around the phrase.

      Enter:      [Windows Write]
      Find:      The Readme file was written in Windows Write.


Fuzzy Searching
A fuzzy search helps you locate information when you're not sure of the spelling

      Enter:      {fuzzy} Kathy
      Find:      Documents containing either Kathy, Kathi, or Cathy

Note: Search commands such as FUZZY must be entered in curley braces { }. This tells askSam that the word FUZZY is a command and not a term in your search.


Searching in a Specific Field
You can restrict an askSam search to the contents of a specific field.

      Enter:      White {in} Name:
      Find:      documents where White appears in the Name: field.

If the field you are searching is longer than a single line, use the long command to search the entire field.

      Enter:      askSam {in long} Notes:
      Find:      documents where askSam appears anywhere in the Notes: field.


Numeric Searching
With askSam's Numeric Search capabilities you can select Documents based on a numeric comparison (>, <, =, >=, <=, <>).

      Enter:      Price: < 2,000
      Find:      documents where the number in the Price: field is less than 2000.


Proximity Searching
A Proximity Search allows you to search for two words or phrases occurring within a specified proximity of one another. This enables you to use the natural elements contained within blocks of normal text (Words, Lines, Sentences and Paragraphs) to tailor your search.

      Enter:      Thatcher {vicinity :0P Reagan}
      Find:      documents where Thatcher and Reagan appear in the same paragraph.

The Proximity Search supports the following modifiers
      W - Words
      L - Lines
      S - Sentences
      P - Paragraphs

      B - Before
      A - After
      E - On either side of
      0 (Zero) - In the same Word, Line, Sentence, or Paragraph

You can mix these modifiers to create a variety of searches:
      Enter:      Internet {vicinity :1WB access}
      Find:      documents where Internet appears 1 word before access.

      Enter:      veto {vicinity :2LA President}
      Find:      documents where veto appears within 2 lines after President.

      Enter:      GM {vicinity :1SE Ford}
      Find:      documents where GM appears 1 sentence either side of Ford.


Date Searching
The Date Search finds information according to a Date contained in a field. There are three categories of Date Searching:

Single range ("find all documents earlier than...")
      Enter:      {cal} Date: < 01-01-96
      Find:      documents where the date in the Date: field is less January 1, 1996.

Dual range ("find all documents from 1970 to 1980")
      Enter:      {cal} Born: >= 01-01-1970 and {cal} Born: <= 01-01-1980
      Find:      documents with dates in the Born field between 1970 and 1980.

Comparison ("find documents with dates from the last 30 days")
      Enter:      {cal} Date:{to} [ ] <= 30 days
      Find:      documents where the date in the Date field is <= 30 days from today.

      Enter:      {cal} Date:{to} Dec. 7, 1941 <= 2 months
      Find:      documents where the date is <= 2 months from December 7, 1941.

      Enter:      {cal} Date:{to} [ ] >= 1 year
      Find:      documents where the date in the Date field is >= 1 year from today.

NOTES:
1) askSam is able to work with Dates which are not in the 20th century.

2) Dates of varying formats can be mixed in a file and will still be understood. For example, askSam can compare, sort and evaluate a file with dates such as July 30th, 1995, 30 JUL. 1995, and 07-30-95 mixed throughout the file.