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dhurt
Apprentice
Joined: 14 May 2003
Posts: 278
Location: Davis, CA
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 Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 8:56 pm Post subject: Forum Search and the use of "And" |
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Question about the useage of "and" when searching. The truth table for two item joined by and looks like the following:
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Item 1 Item 2 Logical Value
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0 0 0
1 0 0
0 1 0
1 1 1
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So the only true statements are when both items are true. This does not appear to be the case when searching the forums. For instance, if one searches the forum for "sandbox", the search returns
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Search found 172 matches
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Now if one searches for "sandbox portage" or "sandbox and portage" ( I do not think it matters since I believe the default constructor is an "and" ) the search returns
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Search found 214 matches
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This is not possible if the logic for the and statement is followed. If there are only 171 threads that have the word "sandbox" in them. There cannot possibly be more posts that have "sandbox" and "portage" in them. If someone could enlighten me to what is going on and how posts are gaining words, that would be great 
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kallamej
Administrator
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 4975
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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Searching for | Code: | | sandbox AND portage |
gives 154 matches.
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dhurt
Apprentice
Joined: 14 May 2003
Posts: 278
Location: Davis, CA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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D'oh. Did not reallize the "and" had to be in all caps. Thanks for pointing that out.
So, it appears that the default search option uses an "or" for its search. This is a great help to know. I was under the impression that the search would "and" the terms, similar to Google:
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By default, Google only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.
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Is there a way to change this by default, or should I just quit whining and use "AND" between all my search terms . This seems like really poor searching behavior. If I enter "portage sandbox" I personally do not want topics with just portage or sandbox.
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"And isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony, anyway? I mean, all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, ooh ooh ooh, the sky's the limit!" -- The Tick |
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