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Power Search

Date Searching | Light Stories | Boolean | Proximity | Wild Cards |
Fields | Type | Sorting | Examples

Date Searching
When searching by date, it is most effective to use the following date format: YYYYMMDD

Example: 19980101  

Examples of date field searches on EZ Search:

Description Example
Specific date williams:by and date=19990206
williams:by and 19990206:date
Range of dates senior resources and date > 19970701 and date < 19970901
Before a specific date voucher and date < 19990101
After a specific date cisneros and date > 19990101
Day spurs and sunday:day
Searching for Stories before 1997
From the Power Search screen, choose the year(s) that you want to search from the "Choose Database(s)" box.
  • To search consecutive years, i.e. 1993-1995, click on 1993, hold your shift key down and click on 1995.
  • To search non-consecutive years, i.e. 1993 and 1995 but not 1994, click on 1993, hold your Ctrl key down and click on 1995.
  • To search all years, choose the "All Years" option in the Choose Database(s)   box.

Examples of date field searches on Power Search:

Description How to
Specific date Click on Date Range. Enter same date in both Start Date and End Date fields.
Range of dates Click on Date Range. Enter appropriate dates in Start Date and End Date fields.
Before a specific date Click on Date Range. Enter a date in the End Date field. Leave the Start field blank.
After a specific date

Click on Date Range. Enter a date in the Start Date field. Leave the End Date blank.

Searching for Stories from the San Antonio Light
If you are looking for stories that ran in the San Antonio Light (1989-1993), go to the Power Search screen. Scroll to the bottom of the "Choose Database(s)" box, select the year(s) of the Light data that you would like to search.
Boolean operators
Boolean operators permit you to create more complex queries and can be combined with wild cards and proximity operators. You can enter a more complex query that combines Boolean operators in the search box on the EZ Search screen or in the Words Anywhere box on the Power Search screen. See the list of Boolean operators below.
Operator Definition Example
And Both terms must be present in the story Congress and economy and policy
Or Either term must be present in the story Parliament or government
Not, And Not The word(s) following this operator cannot be present in the story Bill and Gates not Microsoft
Proximity operators
Proximity operators allow you to specify just how close two words must occur in a story to be included in your results. See the examples below.
Operator Definition Example
same/n Words must occur within the same paragraph or within a certain number (n) of paragraphs from each other Campaign same contributions

Clinton same/2 China

notsame Words must not occur in the same paragraph Clinton notsame Gore
w/n Ordered word proximity - Word 1 occurs within a certain number (n) of words before word 2 Market w/3 share
near/n Unordered word proximity - Word 1 occurs within a certain number (n) of words before or after word 2 drunk driving near/10 teenagers
Wild cards
Use wild card characters to find various forms of a word or when you are uncertain of the spelling of a word.
Operator Definition Example
* Fills in any number of ending characters Pollut*  finds pollution, polluting, pollutant
! Finds related words and includes those in search run! finds run and related words like marathon, jog, etc.
? Fills in any single character Wom?n  finds woman or women
" Finds exact match of a term gun"  finds gun not guns or gunned or gunning
' ' Finds exact phrase 'setting it straight'
Field searching
Search by fields to narrow your search results. You can search by fields from both the EZ Search and Power Search screens. In Ex-Files, you use the same format when searching in any field:

         word or phrase:field name

Field name Description Example
Lead Beginning of a story scandal and teacher:lead
Headline (head) Headline of a story SAWS:head
Byline (by) Byline or author of the story Lunsford:by
Section (sect) Section of the newspaper Cisneros and A section:sect

spurs and sports:sect

Date Publish date of the newspaper chris williams and 19990205:date
Page Page story ran on voucher and 01a:page
Type Story type rick casey and column:type
Caption (capt) Caption of photos that ran with a story Henry Cisneros:capt
Controlling sort order
From the Power Search screen, you can control the sort order of your results.

Newest to oldest: Will return stories in reverse chronological order. Stories that were most recently published will appear at the top of your result list.

Oldest to newest: Will return stories in chronological order. Stories that were most recently published will appear at the bottom of your result list.

Relevance: Will return stories in an order that best matches the search terms you have requested. The more frequently these terms appear in a story, the higher its rank in the result list will be. The most recent story may not appear at the top of the list.  

Examples of combined field searches:
Description Example
Looks for all stories where economic occurs within 5 words of indicators and in the business section Economic w/5 indicators and business:sect
Looks for a story written by Jeanne Russell on vouchers that ran on the first page vouchers and Jeanne Russell:by and 01A:page
Look for a story that mentions a lawyer who successfully prosected a drunk driving case. A picture of Joe Smith ran with the story. (lawyer or attorney or prosecutor) and convict* w/5 drunk driv* and joe smith:capt