# Search, Forum, Search



## siares

Hi Mike,

I wanted to find expressions 'will have verbed/t', 'comprise of' but the search leaves out words it considers too short (will, of).
Is there a way to persuade it to include them?

Some members don't come up when one starts typing their name into 'posted by member'; even though the search still works - do you know whether there is some pattern to this?

Thank you.


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## Paulfromitaly

siares said:


> the search leaves out words it considers too short (will, of).


I don't think so. "Will" and "of" are not too short and they are valid key words.

http://forum.wordreference.com/search/79821/?q=*will*+think+*of*&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=4

Try leaving out the slash.


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## mkellogg

You get a message that those words are too short or too common, but it is not true. That message should not show, and the results include those words. It is a bug that we hope will get fixed soon.


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## siares

Thank you very much both.
I didn't notice.
I tried out now;
When I search for 'had drunk a cup of tea' in EO
The warning says 'of' and 'a' had been left out; the search result is this sole post:
sub*a*udition *of* "p*a*st perfect"
*A*ctions/events described in the p*a*st perfect h*a*ppen before other *a*ctions/events in the p*a*st. Sequence *of *events: (1) drink *tea* (2) go home > I...
The search terms visible in first sentence are highlighted as above including letters within words.

In cases where the first sentence doesn't contain any of the search terms, nothing is highlighted.
I'd like to see the sentence with the search term though - so that I know which verb if any will be there when I open a post searched for with "will have"


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## siares

Hi all,
Is it possible to search for bits of words?
To find for example all versions of 'disbelieve'?
Search for 'disbeliev' doesn't get any hits.
Search for 'arch' brings up 'archly' - I imagine this is because 'arch' is a word in itself.
Thank you.


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## pointvirgule

siares said:


> Is it possible to search for bits of words?


Using the asterisk as a wildcard character appears to work. E.g. the keyword disbelie* returns a bunch of threads containing _disbelief_, _disbelieving_, _disbelievers_, etc., and arch* returns threads containing _arches_, _architect_, _archly_, _archeologists_, etc.


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## siares

That is perfect - thank you very much, pointvirgule.


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## siares

Hello,
do you know whether it is possible to include punctuation marks in search, here or in google? (E: maybe also letter case)
I'd like to find blablabla*, considering.*, or *he were! *but even with quotes only the words are included.
Thank you.


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## siares

Hello Mike,
there is a glitch or something regarding 'search child forums as well' in Advanced search.
When this is left clicked, then:
with
All forums category highlighted: normal results
Spanish-English category highlighted: normal results
Spanish-English vocabulary forum highlighted: normal results
When  'search child forums as well' is unclicked, then:
with
All forums category highlighted: normal results
Spanish-English category highlighted: no results found
Spanish-English vocabulary forum highlighted: normal results


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## mkellogg

siares said:


> When 'search child forums as well' is unclicked, then:
> with
> ...
> Spanish-English category highlighted: no results found



That is correct. That category has no posts. It only has child forums with posts.


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## siares

mkellogg said:


> has no posts. It only has child forums with posts.


Huh? could you rephrase radically?


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## mkellogg

Categories have no posts.  You are searching a category.

Can somebody else help rephrase this for me? I'm not sure how else to say it.


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## siares

mkellogg said:


> Categories have no posts. You are searching a category.


How do I get into child forums?
Are there child forums in CC (e; in Addditional Forums)?
When I search 'Additional forums', it brings up results from CC, Celebrations, Cultural Discussions and C&S. (as long as 'search child forums as well' is left clicked).


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## Peterdg

In the next screenshot, the item with the red box is just a collection of forums. It is not a forum itself and as such, does not contain posts. The collection consists of the items with the green boxes (those are the child forums) and these are forums that do contain posts.


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## siares

Thank you very much Peterdg for helping!!
I feel very silly- I confused child forums with sub-forums (medical terminology etc)

In that case there are 2 different categories:
'All Forums': searchable when 'child forums as well' is unclicked; any other category: unsearchable.


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## siares

Hello!
I was temporarily alarmed when I copied <word> from a thread title, put it into dictionary search, and it came up with server error. < in Advanced Search is not problematic.


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## mkellogg

Yes, our dictionaries block requests with these symbols, < and >, for security reasons.  I am reluctant to make it work because it involves removing a level of security.


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## siares

Thanks for answering, I thought it was a mistake.


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