Boolean Search Examples

Examples of Boolean Search phrases in Colleague.

A single worded phrase can just be typed:

Developer

If you wish to find all words beginning with a phrase, you can use an asterisk (this is known as a 'wildcard').

Develop*

A multi-worded phrase requires speech marks to contain the phrase:

“Software Developer”

If you are searching for documents that contain ANY of the phrases, type ‘OR’ to separate the words:

“Software Developer” OR Java

If you are searching for multiple phrases and your results must contain ALL of the phrases, type ‘AND’ to separate the words:

“Software Developer” AND Java

If you are searching for documents that must contain a list of phrases OR a different list of phrases, use brackets to group the phrases separated by an OR statement:

(“Software Developer” AND Java) OR (“Software Engineer” AND Java)

If you are searching for documents that contain any one of a list of phrases AND any one of a different list of phrases, use brackets to group the phrases separated by an AND statement:

(“Software Developer” OR “Java Developer” OR Java) AND (London OR “Milton Keynes” OR Surrey)

If you do not want a record to contain a certain phrase, at the end of your search use the NOT statement:

("Software Developer" OR "Java Developer" OR Java) AND (London OR "Milton Keynes") NOT (Liverpool OR Manchester)