Search Logic
Updated over a week ago

The Elium search engine allows a free text search enriched with metadata and multiple attributes. Elium also allows the indexing of standard files containing text such as word files, powerpoint files and even cells of an excel file.

For Advanced search

There is a list of commands on Elium that a user can use to make their query more precise in order to obtain more targeted search results. Here is the list below

  • AND : AND searches find all of the search terms. For example, searching on Knowledge AND management AND Elium returns only results that contain all three search terms. Limited results.

  • OR : OR searches find one term or the other. Searching on Knowledge OR Elium OR Management returns all items that contain any of the three search terms. Returns a large number of results.

  • NOT : NOT eliminates items that contain the specified term. Searching on Knowledge NOT Elium returns items that are about Knowledge, but will specifically NOT return items that contain the word Elium.
    This is a way to fine-tune results.

  • Quotation Marks “ “ : Quotation marks are used to define words that must be present in the article as a group. The words inside the quotation marks, including spaces and special characters (numbers, punctuation, symbols) will be treated as a complete and unbreakable set. The words order will have their importance.

    For example, “Knowledge Management”. It will treat the words “Knowledge Management” as a whole. You will not receive articles that talk only about Knowledge or only Management.

  • Brackets (): Brackets give a structure to the query and are therefore useful for complex queries. It is possible to create groups of words that can interact with others. They work as in a mathematical formula.

    For example: Knowledge AND (management or sharing) NOT Elium.

  • Question Mark ? : This command act like a wild card or a joker. It can be placed at any point in the word. During the search the letter that has been replaced by the question mark can be substituted for any other character. Question marks should be used with caution, as depending on where you use them you may find some results that are unexpected.

    For example: organi?ation. It will bring back results containing organisation or organization

  • Asterix *: Asterix can only be used at the end of words. They will replace more than one letter. They should be used with even more care than question marks.

    For example: orga*. This will bring back organised, organisation, …

  • Tilde ~: The tilde is used with quote marks to specify that the words should be no more than a specified distance from each other. This is useful to find words in the same sentence (set a low number) or in the same paragraph (set a slightly higher number).

    For example : “Knowledge management”~8 = the two words must be together in a group of 8 words and can be in any order.

For tags

Like the full text search, filters by means of tags operate according to Boolean logic.

Logique booléenne
Logique booléenne
Logique booléenne
  • When the user selects two tags of the same category, an OR applies. The user leaves the choice to the presence of one or the other of the two tags in the searched contents. For example, by selecting the tags "Belgium" and "France", both from the same "Country" category, the results display the content tagged "Belgium", tagged "France" and content with the two tags.

  • When the user selects two tags from different categories, an AND applies. The user wants the searched content to present both of these tags. For example, by selecting the "Belgium" tag in the "Country" category and the "Food industry" tag in the "Sector" category, the results display contents relating to the food sector in Belgium alone.

For categories of tags

Selecting two categories of tags amounts to asking the search engine to only display contents with at least one tag from each selected category. Therefore categories are linked by an AND Boolean.

For spaces and groups of spaces

The various selected spaces as filters are always linked by an OR. The user leaves the choice for searching content of the one or the other space.

For type of content

The various selected types as filters are always linked by an OR. The user leaves the choice for searching content of the one or the other type of content.

For contributors

The various selected contributors as filters are always linked by an OR. The user leaves the choice of the one or the other contributor.

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