Instructions:
- Proximity operator search: Enter the search statement in one of the following formats:
- term1 w term2 ... term1 15w term2; example: european 2w office
- term1 d term2 ... term1 99d term2; example: disease 8d stomach
- term1_term2
- term1_term2 w term3 ... term1_term2 9w term3
- term1 w term2_term3 ... term1 9w term2_term3
- term1_term2 d term3 ... term1_term2 4d term3; example: solar_cell 2d substrate
- term1 w (term2 or term3) ... term1 7w (term2 or term3)
- (term1 or term2) w term3 ... (term1 or term2) 7w term3
- term1 d (term2 or term3) ... term1 3d (term2 or term3); example: (dog or cat) 3d pet
- term1 w (term2 or term3 or term4) ... term1 3w (term2 or term3 or term4)
- (term1 or term2 or term3) w term4 ... (term1 or term2 or term3) 3w term4
- term1 d (term2 or term3 or term4) ... term1 1d (term2 or term3 or term4); example:
coating 1d (SiO2 or TiO2 or ZrO2)
- (term1 or term2) w (term3 or term4) ... (term1 or term2) 3w (term3 or term4); example:
(red or yellow) 3w (rose or flower)
- (term1 or term2) d (term3 or term4) ... (term1 or term2) 1d (term3 or term4)
- simple combinations of the proximity operators d and w using two parentheses; examples:
price 1w (500 1d Euro) or (niagara w falls) 9w visitor
- (term1 [w-14w, d-6d] term2) or (term3 [w-14w, d-6d] term3) considering a maximum of 32 words in the Google search statement; example: (pop 5d singer) or (Michael w Jackson)
- 3OG term1, term2, term3 ... 6OG term1, term2, term3 (with up to 6 terms and up to 3 alternatives); examples: 5OG control, infra_red, radiation or 5OG glass, Si3N4, (Ag or silver), Si3N4 or
6OG Albert, Einstein, (general or special or and), theory, of, relativity
- 3UG term1, term2, term3
- 3UG (term1 or term2), term3, term4; example: 3UG (blue or green), red, yellow
- When using the operators OG or UG (or og or ug) the commata might be omitted; example:
5og Don't (swap or change or switch) horses in midstream
Combination with a Google search statement: If you want to combine any of the proximity operator searches above with a Google search statement, enter first the proximity operator search statement formatted as given above, followed by "++" and the Google search statement, for instance: (wheel or device) 2d steering ++bmw
Proximity operators:
- The word-operator "w" assigns the maximum number of words in between the search terms, whereby the order of the terms is maintained as given, e.g., in the example above first "european" then "office".
- The distace operator "d" similarly assigns the maximum number of words between the search terms, but whereby the order of the terms is not of importance, i.e., also the inverse order is searched.
- The joining operator "_" indicates, that the words connected by it are understood as two sepatate words or as one word without space in between, e.g., in the example above "solar cell" or "solarcell". The operator "_" (underscore) may be replaced by a hyphen, "-", e.g.: "solar-cell".
- The group operators "OG" and "UG" indicate, that the terms connected by it are searched as group in the order as given (OG) or in any possible order (UG), whereby the number in front of OG and UG gives the maximum number of terms plus any intermediate terms. For example 5OG control, infra_red, radiation will search for all documents where the three words "control", "infrared" (or "infra red" or "infra-red"), and "radiation" can be found in this given order, whereby two other words may be placed anywhere in between them.
Google search operators: Any of the Google search operators may be employed in a combination with a proximity operator search statement after "++", for example:
- An expression within quote signs ("...expression...") indicates that the expression must be present in the result as quoted, e.g., preparation 2d (instructions or receipt) ++"italian pizza"
- The plus sign "+" directly (without space) in front of a search term indicates that the term must be present in the result without automatic stemming of singular/plural, even if it is a common stopword in Google, e.g., patent w examination ++guidelines part +a
- The minus sign "-" directly (without space) in front of a search term indicates that the term must not be present in the result, e.g. inventive w (activity or step) ++USPTO -EPO -european
- The tilde sign "~" directly (without space) in front of a search term indicates that all synonyms of the term are searched, e.g. heart 2d (attack or failure) ++~prevention
- Two periods ".." in between two numbers indicates that all numbers within that range are searched, e.g. (russian or soviet) 2d revolution ++1900..2000
- One asterisk "*" indicates preferably one (or a small number) of unknown or arbitrary words, and several asterisks several words accordingly, e.g. german w (poet or writer or author) ++"Johann * Goethe"
- Using the AROUND(#) operator it is possible to search for two terms with a certain maximum of words (indicated by the number #) in between, whereby the terms themselves are searched in any order (= distance operator "d" explained above). The AROUND(#) operator MUST BE IN CAPS. Example: "inventive step" AROUND(9) "traditional knowledge"
- The capitalized OR-operator indicates alternatives of directly adjacent expressions, e.g. women 3d clothing ++blouse OR shirt. More than two alternatives may be indicated, e.g. women 3d clothing ++OR blouse OR shirt (all 3d-combinations of "women clothing" are searched OR blouse OR shirt = 10 alternatives)
- The joining operator in Google is the hyphen sign "-", indicating that the words connected by it are searched as one single word or as two separate words, e.g. uv w (radiation or light) ++OR ultra-violet
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