Typecraft v2.5
Jump to: navigation, search

Difference between revisions of "Help:Searching in the TypeCraft Wiki"

 
(7 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{TcCopyEdit}}
 
{{TcCopyEdit}}
  
The TypeCraft wiki has like any mediawiki a search box, which you find on the navigation bar. You can type search terms into the search box and the choose *SELECT* and a search results page will appear.
 
  
If there is no result or the result is not  useful, you still can go to the Search page area called "Advanced" for specifying the precise domain, called [[WP:namespace|namespace]] on the wiki. You might also want to go to your user preferences page in order to tell the TypeCraft wiki in which namespaces you would like to search when using the wiki search box.  
+
To access the wiki pages for search, write part of the name of the page wanted into the '''Search TC-wiki''' slot in the upper right cormer. You can choose between coontinuations of the name, and  a '''Search results''' page will open, either with the desired page, or a set of ''Page title matches'', between which you can further select.
  
 +
For further specification of the search domain, the upper navigation bar on this page has a slot "Advanced". A Mediawiki calls collections of wiki pagers [[WP:namespace|namespaces]]. The advanced option allows you to specify more precisely in which namespace you want the wiki to search.
 +
You can also go to your user preferences page (accessible on the uppermost navigation bar to the right) in order to tell the TypeCraft wiki in which namespaces you would like to search when using the wiki search box.
  
  
==Search results page==
 
You can get to the ''search results page'' by entering what is not a [[Help:page name|page name]] (or a [[Help:redirect|redirect]]), or by doing an empty search (clicking the magnifying glass, or pressing ''Go''). The ordering of the list of search results is by relevance or user settings.
 
* Important terms are highlighted in bold lettering
 
* It will advise '''There is a page named <span style="color:#0645AD">''pagename''</span> on Wikipedia''' when there was a direct match to a pagename, a [[Help:disambiguation|disambiguation]] page, or a redirect (and thus, even to a section of a page).
 
* A message box may show up beside a listing, indicating that that page is linked to a [[WP:SISTER|sister page on another project]], such as a [[Wiktionary]] entry tied to that Wikipedia page, but this only happens for listed ''articles''.
 
  
The use of the usual search box while on the search results page defeats the purpose of the page.
+
====The Search results page====
There are two search boxes because the usual search box is on ''every'' page, but the intent of the ''search results page'' is to use the newly placed search box to refine a list of results. There are several ways to accomplish this, either with the mouse or by query commands typed into the search box. For example, if you want to see more terms highlighted use "OR", and if you want to remove results use "-". (See ''Syntax'' below.)
+
  
===Refining results===
+
The intent of the ''Search results'' page is to use the newly placed search box to refine a list of results. You do this by writing query commands into the search box. For example, if you want to see more terms highlighted use "OR", and if you want to see all pages with the terms "language" and "annotation, write "language AND annotation"
[[File:Search page.PNG|thumb|300px|alt=Wikipedia special search box|The refinement of search results offers a mouse-driven interface.]]
+
  
[[File:Search page advanced July 2014.png|thumb|350px|alt=Some Wikipedia advanced search options|The ''Advanced'' filters of the search page.]]
 
  
[[WP:article|Article]]s are in the main [[Help:Namespace|namespace]], or "article space", but ''[[Special:Statistics]]'' will show that there are many times more ''pages'' on Wikipedia than there are ''articles'' on Wikipedia. Other ''types'' of pages are in other ''namespaces'', and these can be searched by clicking on one of the filter-activation "links" in the grey frame just below the search box:
+
=====Syntax for search terms=====
*If ''Multimedia'' is selected, the '''File''' namespace reveals page names with matching images, videos and audios.  Your query matches titles (denoted "'''<span style="color:#0645AD">File:''pagename''</span>'''"), data filenames, and their descriptions.
+
The TypeCraft wiki supports the "-" character for "logical not", the AND, the OR, and the grouping parenthesis. Logical OR can be specified by spelling it out in capital letters.
*If ''Help and Project pages'' is selected, resulting titles will start with "'''Help:'''" and "'''Wikipedia:'''", indicating the namespaces, which contain basic help, and also Wikipedia guideline, policy, maintenance and administration pages.
+
*If ''Everything'' is selected, the entire database is searched, and there are about twenty-six namespaces, but only four others besides articles are commonly searched: Wikipedia, Help, Template, and Category.
+
*If ''Advanced'' is selected, the gray frame expands to reveal all the namespaces, each with a check-box indicating the search status. An additional check-box arranges for the current choices to be remembered as the default for future searches.
+
  
Talk pages are in their own, respective namespaces, and are not included in these selections.
+
The AND operator is assumed for all terms separated by spaces. Therefore, if you would like to look for the Brazilian Portuguese you have to use the parenthesis. You write: <code> "Brazilian Portuguese"</code>. If you use <code> Brazilian Portuguese</code> instead it is equivalent to using AND.  
  
See ''[[#Search engine features|Search engine features]]'' below for using search box commands to refine results.
+
Or to say it differently: Double quotes can define a single search term that contains spaces. For example, "noun classes" is now defined such that the space between "noun" and "class" counts as a character, and not like a logical AND.
 +
 
 +
   
 +
'''Exclusion'''
  
===Other uses===
+
Terms can be excluded by prefixing a hyphen or dash (-), which, as mentioned above, is "logical not".
To get Wikipedia search results while on any ''[[web page]]'', you can temporarily set your browser's (web-based) search box to interface the Wikipedia search engine and land on Wikipedia's search results page; see ''[[Help:Searching from a web browser]]''. This trick removes the need to first navigate to Wikipedia from a web page, and ''then'' do the search or navigation. It is a temporary change, and then you put it back to your preferred web-search engine.
+
For example: <code> -"Brazilian Portuguese"</code> finds all articles with "Brazilian" and "Portuguese" except those with the phrase "Brazilian Portuguese".
  
Say while on some web page, you decide to research, at Wikipedia, material on that web page. You change your web-search box to "Wikipedia (en)", and enter the [[Help:page name|page name]] or the query ''while on that web page''. The other example is that you decide to contribute information from the web to Wikipedia. Furthermore, you can reach all twelve [[WP:SISTER|sister projects]] the same way.  For example, you can go straight to a [[Wiktionary]] entry by using the prefix '''wikt:''' ''from your web-search box''.
+
   
 +
'''Wildcard search'''
  
===User preferences===
+
A wildcard character *, standing for any length of character-string can prefix or suffix a word or string. : the query Anno* will list pages with words like: "annotation", "annotating" and "annotator", while a search for *logue will list pages with the words ''Ethnologue'' or ''dialogue'' in them.
{{main|Help:User preferences}}
+
 
+
The search results page can open in a new tab. If your browser does not already have the manual ability to open any linked page in a new tab when you press and hold the Ctrl-key (PC) or {{Cmd}}-key (Mac), this functionality can be enabled at {{myprefs|Gadgets}} in the ''Browsing'' section. There are also custom user-scripts to make all search results always open in a new tab. (See the scripts available in ''[[#See also|See also]]''.)
+
 
+
If you [[Wikipedia:Why create an account|create an account]] you can visit your [[Special:Preferences]] page (requires JavaScript) to set up:
+
* to search Wikipedia with ''your own search engine'' to see its search results ({{myprefs|Gadgets}} under ''Appearance'')
+
* to widen the search box ({{myprefs|Gadgets}} under ''Appearance'')
+
* to disable the quasi-search results that drop down from the search box while you type ({{myprefs|Gadgets}} under ''Appearance'')
+
* to enable wildcard prefix searches, e.g., "Splark*" ({{myprefs|Gadgets}} under ''Advanced'')
+
 
+
===Redirects===
+
If your query matches in the title of a [[Help:redirect|redirect]] pagename, that redirect will show ''in the parenthetical'' beside the listed page name: "(Redirected from '''''<span style="color:#0645AD">Redirect pagename</span>''''')".  Multiple redirects to the same page are de-cluttered from both the drop-down list and the search results list, so that only one such redirect match will show. (For lists of redirects, see ''[[:Category:Wikipedia redirects]]''. For redirects to a page, see ''[[Special:WhatLinksHere]]''.)
+
 
+
.
+
 
+
===Syntax===
+
The following features can be used to refine searches.  Many of these links are a {{tl|search link}}.  (''Search link'' is not guaranteed to exactly emulate the search box.)
+
 
+
* '''Phrases in double quotes''' – A [[phrase]] can be found by enclosing it in double quotes, <kbd>"like this"</kbd>.  Double quotes can define a single search term that contains spaces. For example, ''{{Search link|"holly dolly"}}'' where the space is a character, differs much from ''{{Search link|holly dolly}}'' where the space is interpreted as a logical AND.
+
* '''Boolean search''' – All major search engines support the "<kbd>-</kbd>" character for "logical not", the AND, the <kbd>OR</kbd>, and the grouping parenthesis. Logical OR can be specified by spelling it out (in capital letters); the AND operator is assumed for all terms (separated by spaces), but spelling out <kbd>AND</kbd> is equivalent. Parentheses are a necessary feature because {{nowrap|<kbd>(blue OR red) AND green</kbd>}} differs from {{nowrap|<kbd>blue OR (red AND green)</kbd>}}.
+
* '''Exclusion'''{{anchor|exclusion}} – Terms can be excluded by prefixing a hyphen or dash (<kbd>-</kbd>), which ''is'' "logical not".  For example <kbd>while -refining -unwanted search results</kbd>. For example ''{{Search link|credit card -"credit card"}}'' finds all articles with ''credit'' and ''card'' except those with the phrase "''credit card''".
+
* '''Wildcard search'''{{anchor|wildcard}} – A wildcard character <kbd>*</kbd>, standing for any length of character-string can prefix or suffix a word or string: <kbd>*like</kbd> will return "childlike" and "dream-like"; <kbd>this*</kbd>, returns results like "thistle". For example, the query ''{{search link|*stan}}'' lists articles like ''Kazakhstan'' and ''Afghanistan''.
+
* '''Search fuzzily'''{{anchor|respell}} – [[Approximate string matching|Spelling relaxation]] is requested by suffixing a tilde (<kbd>~</kbd>) like <kbd>this~</kbd>, with results like "thus" and "thins".  This search technique is sometimes called a "sounds-like" search. For example, searching for ''{{search link|charlie~ parker~}}'' returns ''Charlie Parker'', ''Charles Palmer'',  ''Charley Parks'', etc.; the incorrect ''{{search link|intropi~}}'' finds ''entropy''.  A mnemonic: <search>-ish.
+
* '''Search results!''' – Prefixing a tilde <kbd>~like this query</kbd> always gives search results, never jumping to a single title.  It functions as the keyboard shortcut to clicking on the "containing" option. For example, ''{{search link|~similiar}}'' finds pages with the misspelling, instead of being [[WP:redirect|redirect]]ed to ''Similarity''. Making ''tilde'' the first character disables a redirect. There will be no disambiguation page, no article, no single page as a result.  A mnemonic: "wave of <search results>"
+

Latest revision as of 15:38, 25 December 2017


To access the wiki pages for search, write part of the name of the page wanted into the Search TC-wiki slot in the upper right cormer. You can choose between coontinuations of the name, and a Search results page will open, either with the desired page, or a set of Page title matches, between which you can further select.

For further specification of the search domain, the upper navigation bar on this page has a slot "Advanced". A Mediawiki calls collections of wiki pagers namespaces. The advanced option allows you to specify more precisely in which namespace you want the wiki to search. You can also go to your user preferences page (accessible on the uppermost navigation bar to the right) in order to tell the TypeCraft wiki in which namespaces you would like to search when using the wiki search box.


The Search results page

The intent of the Search results page is to use the newly placed search box to refine a list of results. You do this by writing query commands into the search box. For example, if you want to see more terms highlighted use "OR", and if you want to see all pages with the terms "language" and "annotation, write "language AND annotation"


Syntax for search terms

The TypeCraft wiki supports the "-" character for "logical not", the AND, the OR, and the grouping parenthesis. Logical OR can be specified by spelling it out in capital letters.

The AND operator is assumed for all terms separated by spaces. Therefore, if you would like to look for the Brazilian Portuguese you have to use the parenthesis. You write: "Brazilian Portuguese". If you use Brazilian Portuguese instead it is equivalent to using AND.

Or to say it differently: Double quotes can define a single search term that contains spaces. For example, "noun classes" is now defined such that the space between "noun" and "class" counts as a character, and not like a logical AND.


Exclusion

Terms can be excluded by prefixing a hyphen or dash (-), which, as mentioned above, is "logical not". For example: -"Brazilian Portuguese" finds all articles with "Brazilian" and "Portuguese" except those with the phrase "Brazilian Portuguese".


Wildcard search

A wildcard character *, standing for any length of character-string can prefix or suffix a word or string. : the query Anno* will list pages with words like: "annotation", "annotating" and "annotator", while a search for *logue will list pages with the words Ethnologue or dialogue in them.