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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
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United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Question re. searching
Can anyone tell me if it is possible when using the search facility on the forum to search for a string of more than a single word?

For example, if I want to search for all posts which contain the two word string "mud flap" but don't want to see "mud" on its own nor "flap" on its own, just "mud flap" together conjoined by a space.

None of the regular delimiters seem to work! Is it possible?

Many thanks in advance.
Post #553377 3rd Aug 2016 12:13pm
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apt100



Member Since: 05 Mar 2015
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United Kingdom 2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Aintree Green
I'm not sure about def2 specifically, but most forum search facilities are a bit lacking, so I often search using google.

eg mud flap site:defender2.net will look for both words on the forum
Post #553380 3rd Aug 2016 12:23pm
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Martin
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Try wrapping in quotes (same as Google) - so keep the quotes in "mud flap" when you search.

I've just tried it and it's appeared to work OK  1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW
Post #553386 3rd Aug 2016 12:29pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
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I think that entering:-

mud flap will find threads containing the word mud and/or the word flap,

mud AND flap will find threads which contain both the word mud and the word flap, and

mud OR flap will find threads which contain either the word mud or the word flap but not both.

In each case above the bit in bold is the bit typed in the search box.

However none of these does what I was trying to do, namely find threads which contain the phrase "mud flap" !
Post #553388 3rd Aug 2016 12:31pm
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Martin
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Also try this:

mud << flap

This will give you results where mud is always before flap

The underlying search engine used is not the awful forum default, it is a replacement called Sphinx.

The lookup documentation is here:

http://sphinxsearch.com/docs/latest/boolean-syntax.html
http://sphinxsearch.com/docs/latest/extended-syntax.html  1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW
Post #553389 3rd Aug 2016 12:36pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
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United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Martin wrote:
Try wrapping in quotes (same as Google) - so keep the quotes in "mud flap" when you search.

I've just tried it and it's appeared to work OK


This was one of the first things I tried, but it doesn't do it.

"mud flap" is a poor example because there are so many posts with some combination of these workds. If you try "run lock" it is a better test since there are fewer posts with the phrase "run lock".

Searching for:-

"run lock" gives 148 threads

run AND lock gives 139 threads

run OR lock gives 74 threads

run lock (without quotes) also gives 148 threads, so the same as without quotes.

If you try it after I've posted this it will be more of course.

However none of these is searching for the phrase "run lock" as opposed to various combinations of the two words!

I have also tried things like +run +lock and &run &lock but these, unsurprisingly also don't work.
Post #553391 3rd Aug 2016 12:41pm
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Martin
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Please see my post above  1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW
Post #553392 3rd Aug 2016 12:41pm
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apt100



Member Since: 05 Mar 2015
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"run lock" site:defender2.net
finds 26 results (useful for lesser forums with very basic search facilities)
Post #553397 3rd Aug 2016 12:53pm
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Martin
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Funnily enough the multi-multi-billion dollar internet company Google are better at setting up a search engine than me Wink  1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW
Post #553398 3rd Aug 2016 12:55pm
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apt100



Member Since: 05 Mar 2015
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I meant lesser than this one ie still with the basic search facility. You said you had upgraded Thumbs Up


eg some won't even accept 3 letters or less, so "mud" would be ignored.

(as the OP is sorted, I was just trying to give info that might be useful to others in other situations). No offence intended.
Post #553399 3rd Aug 2016 12:57pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
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Thanks everyone!

I will try the above in a while (when I get time).

Martin, our posts crossed! Thumbs Up
Post #553407 3rd Aug 2016 1:31pm
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JOW240725



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Does this help?
 James
MY2012 110 2.2TDCi XS SW Orkney Grey - http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic43410.html
MY1990 110 200TDi SW beautifully faded Portofino Red - https://www.defender2.net/forum/post743641.html#743641
MY1984 90 V8 Slate Grey - https://www.defender2.net/forum/post744557.html#744557
Instagram @suffolk_rovers
Post #553409 3rd Aug 2016 1:48pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17359

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Hmm, I am still not able to search for an exact multi-word phrase!

Martin, what Matching Mode are you using, is it SPH_MATCH_ANY by any chance?

Looking at Ch 5 of the documentation for Sphinx (see http://sphinxsearch.com/docs/latest/matching-modes.html ) , it looks as though to enable phrase searching (plus a whole host of other advanced searching features) the Matching Mode needs to be SPH_MATCH_EXTENDED.

If this is what it is set to already, then I am completely baffled.

I'm not trying to be a pain nor to waste your valuable time and I apologise therefore if I am unintentionally doing both, but it surprises me that something that seems as though it should be simple actually isn't.
Post #553411 3rd Aug 2016 1:59pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17359

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Using Google and the search criterion:

site:defender2.net "run lock"

does indeed do what I would expect, namely just shows results which contain the phrase "run lock".
Post #553412 3rd Aug 2016 2:02pm
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