# Two word searches



## skilletlicker (Jul 4, 2007)

Is there any way to search for text strings containing spaces?  For instance, a search for [cheese sauce], brackets omitted from the search input field, returns all threads with both words anywhere within the thread but not necessarily in order.  *Sorta Like Cordon Bleu* is a good example.

Of course in advanced search you can opt to "search titles only" but while that screens out a lot of irrelevant results, it also excludes many very relevant posts.

Is there any way around this?  Perhaps something I've missed or an administrative software option that could be used?


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## buckytom (Jul 4, 2007)

quotation marks around a set of words will get it to search for the exact quote. it is limiting, as it searches for the words exactly as you placed them in quotes.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 4, 2007)

buckytom said:
			
		

> quotation marks around a set of words will get it to search for the exact quote. it is limiting, as it searches for the words exactly as you placed them in quotes.


 BT, I use quotes with google but it doesn't seem to work with the search function inside DC.  Search "cheese sauce" and  *Chicken cordon swiss leaks everywhere*  is one of early threads returned.  I can't find an instance of "cheese" and "sauce" occurring contiguously in that thread.

I'm probably missing something simple here so please be patient with me.


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## Katie H (Jul 4, 2007)

Hey, skillet, I tried something that might be what you are looking for.

Go to Advanced Search and in the "Key Words" box, type in (as an example) cheese sauce, below that window change the search to "Search Titles Only" and see if this helps.

Doing this seems to narrow a search significantly.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 4, 2007)

Katie E said:
			
		

> Hey, skillet, I tried something that might be what you are looking for.
> 
> Go to Advanced Search and in the "Key Words" box, type in (as an example) cheese sauce, below that window change the search to "Search Titles Only" and see if this helps.
> 
> Doing this seems to narrow a search significantly.


 Thanks Katie.

"Search Titles Only" certainly does reduce the number of returned results.  Of course it also fails to return all the information nestled within a thread that doesn't correspond to one of the key words in the title.  Hypothetically, I might begin a thread titled  "I'm tired of broccoli" and you might reply with a post in the gist of "Try it with this great cheese sauce."  Your post would not be returned in a "Titles Only" search.

It may be that giving titles to replies, a rare practice, would help somewhat but I haven't tested the question, and  it isn't particularly helpful to a user inputing  query criteria.


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## Katie H (Jul 4, 2007)

You're right, skillet, but I was just playin' around and discovered what I suggested.  There should/must be a way to do what you're looking for, but I'm not that literate in the ways of the computer world to delve deeper.


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## 2belucile (Jul 5, 2007)

Skillet: one thing that has helped me in the searchs (google or yahoo ) is to put it this way :   cheese+sauce+recipe  
Hope it helps


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## kitchenelf (Jul 5, 2007)

skilletlicker said:
			
		

> It may be that giving titles to replies, a rare practice, would help somewhat but I haven't tested the question, and  it isn't particularly helpful to a user inputing  query criteria.



Putting a title into every post made would certainly help tremendously.


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## buckytom (Jul 5, 2007)

*do not aggravate the admins!*

how's that, skill?


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## kitchenelf (Jul 5, 2007)

..............................


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## YT2095 (Jul 5, 2007)

Mathematical and Boolean Operators don`t work either, I just tried.

Advanced search is the Answer for sure


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## *amy* (Jul 5, 2007)

Try this:

cheese*-*sauce

It pulled up one thread.

Cheese sauce for broccoli and cauliflower 

I would need to play around with the hyphen more to see if it will work.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 5, 2007)

YT2095 said:
			
		

> Advanced search is the Answer for sure



How so?


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## bbqcoder (Jul 18, 2019)

Yes, I know this thread is really old but it's still relevant.  It seems that you cannot do boolean searching.  

It does appear that vBulletin supports boolean searches but it needs to be enabled.

I was trying to find any posts/threads discussing egyptian walking onions.  Got unrelated matches unfortunately.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 18, 2019)

I was gonna help you figure it out but listened to some old Bangles tunes instead.


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## Andy M. (Jul 18, 2019)

If you do an advanced search *ON GOOGLE* you can specify the domain to search. enter discuss cooking.com and go.


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## bbqcoder (Jul 18, 2019)

skilletlicker said:


> I was gonna help you figure it out but listened to some old Bangles tunes instead.



LOL, I did listen to the same song recently as well.  I play pool with a friend every couple of weeks.  We have the TV/computer on to play different tunes on Youtube.  So we take turns playing all kinds of songs, old and new.  



Andy M. said:


> If you do an advanced search *ON GOOGLE* you can specify the domain to search. enter discuss cooking.com and go.



Thanks for the suggestion and I did try that.  Just entered "site:www.discusscooking.com" & "egyptian and walking and onions".  Nothing turned up.


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## taxlady (Jul 19, 2019)

bbqcoder said:


> LOL, I did listen to the same song recently as well.  I play pool with a friend every couple of weeks.  We have the TV/computer on to play different tunes on Youtube.  So we take turns playing all kinds of songs, old and new.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion and I did try that.  Just entered "site:www.discusscooking.com" & "egyptian and walking and onions".  *Nothing turned up*.



Try it now that you have posted about them. Maybe there weren't any posts about them before.


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## skilletlicker (Jul 19, 2019)

For what little its worth, I searched by entering:

egyptian walking onions
egyptian, walking, onions
egyptian and walking and onions
egyptian walking not onions
egyptian or walking or onions
The forum software ignores a comma
changes "not onion" to "NOT onion"
changes "or onion" to "OR onion"
In every case the search returned 409 results.


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## bbqcoder (Jul 19, 2019)

skilletlicker said:


> In every case the search returned 409 results.




I did the search and display by posts.  I got 978 hits using the forum search.  When I look at the results, it's finding posts with the word "onions" in them. So it's an OR search with no way to change this.

Google site search works.  It found the thread that I created yesterday.  It's interesting that it also found a few other threads but it's incorrect because it found the search phrase in the Latest Forum Posts showing the recent threads.

So the moral of the story is to use Google site search if you need specialized search capability.


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