GRHS Site Search Help Page

Enter Search Terms : Advanced Search

Enter Search Terms :

Enter your search terms in this box. Because you are searching the full text of the GRHS Web pages, be as specific as possible with your terms. The default search is for ANY terms given in the search box but you can modify the search using the codes found here. Also note that a "sounds like" search will be done if the initial search returns no results. Some hints on how to find what you are looking for are found here. A maximum of 800 results can be displayed (40 pages of 20 results). Searches are not case sensitive; in other words a search for "Cats" is equivalent to a search for "cats".

Search Site Button

Use the terms provided in the input box to search all pages on the GRHS website that contain ANY of the terms given.

Advanced Search Link

Open the Advanced search window. In Advanced Search you will be able to search "With ALL the words", "With ANY of the words", "With the EXACT PHRASE" and "WITHOUT the words". You can access the features of Advanced Search in the Simple Search using the codes given here.

Advanced Search Options

With ALL the words :

Requires that all of your search terms appear in a found page (equivalent to the Boolean term AND). For example the terms :
cats dogs Finds pages that contain the word cats AND the word dogs

With ANY of the words :

Requires that any one (or more) of your search terms appear in a found page (equivalent to the Boolean term OR). For example the terms :
cats dogs Finds all pages with either the word cats OR the word dogs (or both)

With the EXACT PHRASE :

Requires that the exact phase specified (including spaces) must appear in a found page. For example the term :
cats and dogs Finds all pages containing the phrase "cats and dogs"

WITHOUT the words :

All pages which DO NOT contain the terms will be found. For example the term :
cats dogs Finds all pages that DO NOT contain the word cats OR the word dogs (or both)

Partial:

The Partial check box allows you to search for the search term(s) ANYWHERE in a page. For example the term :
me Finds all pages that contain the word menu OR name OR commercial or a myriad of other words containing the letters me

Groups:

The Groups selection list allows you to limit your search to a limited number of pages on the GRHS website. The following Groups have been defined :
The "Search Site" and "Search Internet" buttons work as described above in the Simple Search section of this page. The "Help" link takes you to a iSearch2 help page which gives the same information as given above. The "Simple Search" link returns you to the main GRHS Search page.

Search Codes for Simple Search

With ALL the words :

+cats +dogs Finds pages that contain the word cats AND the word dogs

With ANY of the words :

cats dogs Finds all pages with either the word cats OR the word dogs (or both)

With the EXACT PHRASE :

"cats and dogs" Finds all pages containing the phrase "cats and dogs"

WITHOUT the words :

-cats -dogs Finds all pages that do not contain the word cats OR the word dogs (or both)

The codes given above can be combined so for example:

+dogs +"cute pet" -cats Finds all pages that contain the word dogs AND the phase "cute pet" BUT NOT the word cats

Other Search Tips

Choose your search words carefully

Say you want to search for information on The steamship "Augusta Victoria" which sailed from Hamburg in 1891. Choosing hamburg steamship would result in numerous "hits" (supposedly relevant pages) with lots of matches for hamburg the city and steamships in general. Even if the search engine could have found matches for "Augusta Victoria" they will probably be lost when the maximum number of files that can be matched is exceeded (100 files). Think about what words or concepts are most unique about your search? There are very few Augusta Victorias in the world so that is a good first choice. Adding hamburg to get augusta victoria hamburg would further increase relevance. Adding 1891 would probably restrict the search too much because dates are not found often in web pages, but, it could be useful to further reduce results later. Also watch spelling variations. Hamburg may be spelt (incorrectly) by some web pages as Hamberg. Trying a separate search for augusta victoria hamberg might bring useful results.

Use the plus symbol (+)

If the above tips still result in too many matches use the plus symbol (+). Since the default is ANY words can be present for a match using the plus will force ALL words to be required and will equate to fewer and more relevant matches.

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