Search operators

Use the following search syntax to apply operators, such as stemming, fuzziness, and proximity, to searches against the Patents global index.

Note: While similar, patents search operators are different from dtSearch operators. It is important to use the operators below in place of dtSearch operators.

Search functionality	Special characters or operators
Boolean	AND, OR
Exact phrase	" "
Fuzziness	~
Grouping	()
Proximity	~NUM
Reserved characters	\
Wildcards	? *

Boolean

At its core, Boolean searches return yes or no results. When searching specific terms, use Boolean operators to find specific matches. For example, if you search for the words quick brown fox, results include any combination of "quick," "brown," or "fox." Using Boolean operators quick+brown+fox narrows the results to the exact phrase, "quick brown fox." Boolean operators include AND, OR, NOT, +, and -. Boolean operators must be in all caps. When no operator is specified, the default OR operator is used.

Sample search string	Function	Results
quick brown AND fox	Matches quick OR brown, AND fox (required.)	quick fox, brown fox, quick brown fox
quick brown +fox -news	Matches quick OR brown, AND fox (required), but NOT news.	quick fox, brown fox, quick brown fox

You can also use grouping operators with Boolean operators to further define your search. Use parentheses when using multiple operators or creating sub-queries.

Sample search string	Function	Results
((quick AND fox) OR (brown AND fox) OR fox) AND NOT news	Matches quick fox OR brown fox OR fox, but NOT news.	quick fox, brown fox, fox

Exact phrase

Use the exact phrase operator to search for an exact match of a term or string of terms.

Sample search string	Function	Results
quick	Matches the single term exactly.	quick
quick fox	Matches quick OR fox.	quick, fox, quick fox
"quick fox"	Matches the phrase exactly.	quick fox

Fuzziness

Fuzziness searches return results that contain spelling variations of the search term. You can use fuzzy operators with other operators, such as wildcards, but you cannot combine or mix them.

Sample search string	Function	Results
quikc~	Searches for similar terms.	quick
quikc~ OR app*	Fuzzy operator used with wildcard.	Supported. Quick OR apple, application
app*~	Fuzzy operator mixed with wildcard.	Not supported.

Grouping

Use parentheses to group strings to form sub-queries.

Sample search string	Function	Results
(quick OR brown) AND fox	Matches the grouped terms first (quick OR brown) AND fox.	quick fox, brown fox

Proximity

The proximity operator searches for words that are located within a specified number of words from each other.

Sample search string	Function	Results
"fox quick"~5	Matches any phrases where fox and quick are within 5 words of each other.	quick brown fox

Reserved characters

Reserved characters are characters the system recognizes as operators. If your search term or phrase includes a reserved character as a character (and not in an operator capacity), use a backslash (\ ) to escape it. The backslash tells the system not to see the character as an operator but instead as its literal definition.

Sample search string	Function	Results
\(1\+1\)\*2	The parentheses, plus, and equal signs are not processed as operators, but instead, as their literal definitions.	Searches the string (1+1)*2
Reserved characters	+  -  =  &&  ||  > <  !   ( )  { }  [ ]  ^  "  ~  *  ?  :  \  /

Wildcards

Wildcard searches can apply to single characters or multiple characters. Use wildcard searches sparingly, especially when applying to the beginning of a term, or you may experience a larger number of non-relevant results.

Sample search string	Function	Results
qu?ck	Matches any single character.	Quick, quack
appl*	Matches any number of characters.	Apple, application