search syntax

[jarvis24]

is there a guide to the search syntax/rules for boolean and natural language that i can provide to the users? is it possible to use google search syntax?

[Jake Bunce]

I am not sure if there is any documentation on that. I will ask the others.

[Jake Bunce]

Natural Language has no special operators. You just type in a word or words and it searches for posts containing those words.

Boolean search lets you use boolean operators:

AND, OR, NOT (-)

You can also search for a specific string by enclosing the string in quotes.

[waterwheel]

What is the syntax so if i were to search this forum for "search syntax" instead of:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/search.php?searchid=46660

I could type in:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/search.php?searchid="search+syntax"

or something that is more natural language as oppose to a number?

[Jake Bunce]

See this thread.

[bayridge]

I still can't get a string search to work. No matter how I enter the phrase into search box, it separates the words and searches for either word instead of phrase.

"cobol compiler" with quotes returns: Search: Key Word(s): cobol, compiler

Any way I do it, cobol+compiler or cobol AND compiler, it doesn't search for the phrase but either word. Is there no way to do a string search?

[Jake Bunce]

You want boolean functionality. Add this to the URL to enable the boolean option:

&searchtype=1

Also make sure your usergroup has permission to use the boolean option.

[bayridge]

What URL? The users click on Search from on the menu, a box drops down and they enter a phrase. What's a URL got to do with it?

And I looked at User groups and can't see any place to set boolean.

[Jake Bunce]

Your post was out of context. I assumed you were talking about the search URL I posted most recently.

Enable fulltext in your:

Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Search Type

...then the usergroup permission will appear. Use the boolean option when searching to be to search for whole strings like this:

"blah blah blah"

[bayridge]

Sorry. I looked at first post and thought topic was about search syntax.

So I changed to fulltext search and now it doesn't work at all. Getting this error:

Database error in vBulletin 3.5.3:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT
thread.threadid
FROM thread AS thread
INNER JOIN post AS post ON(thread.threadid = post.threadid )
WHERE MATCH(post.title, post.pagetext) AGAINST ('+\"cobol compiler\"' IN BOOLEAN MODE);

MySQL Error : You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'BOOLEAN MODE)

' at line 6
Error Number : 1064
Date : Wednesday, January 25th 2006 @ 08:08:32 PM
Script : http://mysite.net/vbforums/search.php
Referrer : http://mysite.net/vbforums/search.php
IP Address : 68.173.999.76
Username : userid
Classname : vb_database

[Jake Bunce]

No hacks or plugins? Also try reproducing the problem on a default style. These are usually the causes of syntax errors.

[bayridge]

Nope. Saw this problem on a couple of other threads and they worked around it by using search.php from version 3.5.2. Looks like a bug in version 3.5.3 search.php to me. Search is working fine now using search.php from 3.5.2.

[bayridge]

String search still not working. Did the full text thing. Took an hour to finish after I changed to do boolean searches. I put a string in and it still searches for either word. It shows at the top as a string:

Search: Key Word(s): "cobol compiler"

but it is still finding posts with EITHER word in them instead of only showing posts with complete string like it's supposed to.

Really surprised at the poor searching on VB. I switched from UBB Classic that did great string searching. I'm still loving VB though, no comparison. I just hope future versions will improve on searching.

[Steve Machol]

I did that search on these forums: "cobol compiler"

It works perfectly. If you have not installed any plugins or hacks (which includes portals), fill out a support ticket at:

http://members.vbulletin.com/membersupport_contactform.php

Be sure to include the login info to your Admin CP, phpMyAdmin and FTP. Please also include a complete description of the problem.

[zylstra]

When I search for two or more words on this forum the results only show posts that contain all of those words. On my forum the results show posts that contain any of those words. How do I switch the results to your type?