Search Help

HouseSpider

This site uses the freely available java search applet called HouseSpider. Currently version 4.4 is implemented on this site. Many thanks are owed to the developers of this fine routine.

Sections Below are taken directly from the HouseSpider 4.3 Documentation

Usage

Below you see a screenshot of the HouseSpider applet at work searching through the HouseSpider homepage.

There are four elements to its user interface:

Text input box - upper left. Enter your search terms here. For more info on searchs term go to the section below.
Combined search and go button. When you enter a search term the button to the right of the text input box turns into a magnifying glass. Click this button to start an exhaustive search of the web site. Some notes on searching are listed below:
- Case is ignored (e.g., "mexico" will find "Mexico"), and
- partial strings are matched (e.g., "mex" will find "Mexico" and "Texmex").
When the search is done and a link is chosen from the site list, the button will change to an arrow (go) button.
Help button. This button will take you to the help page for (the running version of) HouseSpider.
Site list - lower window. Web pages associated with the search term are displayed here. You may select a listing and then double-click or click the arrow (go) button to go to the link. If a link is selected, its corresponding URL is displayed in the browser's status line (just like when your mouse is over a link in a normal web page).

In addition there is a optional status line located under the site list.

Search Terms

The search terms in the text input box can consist of phrases, exclude words or logical expressions. Case is always ignored. (In my and Google's opinion case-sensitive searches are not needed.)

Phrases: Search words enclosed by qoutes is treated as one phrase.
Exclude words: Search words starting with a minus, "-", is treated as exclude words, i.e., words that should not be matched.
Logical expressions: Use "|" and "&" to make logical "or"/"and"-expressions. The default is to assume "and" between all words, i.e., all words/phrases in the text input box should be matched, hence the use of "&" is not necessary. (A word starting with a plus, "+", is also treated as part of a logical "and" expression.)

Some examples:

Text input box		Meaning of input
"hello you" bye		Will match pages containing the phrase "hello you" and the word "bye".
hello \| you \| bye		Will match pages containing minimum one of the words "hello", "you" and "bye".
hello you bye		Will match pages containing all the words "hello", "you" and "bye".
hello & you & bye		Same as above.
hello +you +bye		Same as above.
hello -you bye		Will match pages containing the words "hello" and "bye", but not "you".
-"hello you" tee \| coffee		Will match pages that doesn't contain the phrase "hello you " and contains one of the words "tee" and "coffee"..

Note that you should quote the search word if special characters and/or logical operators appear in the start of the word.

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