Using Search Connectors

On any Checkpoint screen that has a Keywords field, you can enter search terms and phrases along with search connectors to filter and customize the search to get more specific results.

When your research tasks demand more complex analysis, using plain keywords may not allow you to specify your search topic precisely. Checkpoint lets you use advanced search syntax, such as connectors, to perform more sophisticated and focused searches.

Search connectors are symbols and words you can use in conjunction with keywords to qualify their relationships and meaning. See below for a list of search connectors and examples of how you can incorporate them into your search.

Note: For a precise query use the connectors in the below table. These work best if you know exactly what you are searching for.

Search Connectors

To locate documents:	Use:	Example:
containing any of my keywords	OR, \|	funding OR deficiency
containing all of my keywords	space, &, AND	funding & deficiency
that contain one keyword but exclude another	^, NOT	funding ^ deficiency
containing my exact phrase	" "	"funding deficiency"
containing variations of my keywords	* (asterisk)	deprecia*
disabling automatic retrieval of plurals and equivalencies	# (pound sign)	#damage (retrieves only damage, not damages)
containing single-character variations	? (question mark)	s????holder (retrieves stockholder, shareholder)
containing compound words	- (hyphen)	e-mail (retrieves e-mail, e mail, email)
containing terms that occur at least # times	atleast#()	atleast5(customer)

Note: The # character does not turn off the automatic retrieval of possessives (for example, customer's).

Using Connectors in Intuitive Search

If the Terms & Connectors search method is selected, the AND, SPACE, or & connectors can all be used to require more than one term in each of the documents of your search results. However, if Intuitive Search is left as the default search method, Checkpoint will read the word "AND" and any SPACE as it would any other word used in your query. Although the most relevant documents are likely to have all words used, you may get results that have only most of the words.

Also, when using the Intuitive Search method, the use of quotations to search for a phrase will find the most relevant documents that include the exact phrase and relevant variations that contain the keywords within 3 words of one another.

To search for a word or phrase:	Use:	Example:
within n words of another (in any order)	/# (where # equals number)	"disclosure exception" /7 negligence
within n words of another (in exact order)	pre/# (where # equals number)	"disclosure exception" pre/7 negligence
within the same sentence (20 words) as another (in any order)	/s	"disclosure exception" /s negligence
within the same sentence (20 words) as another (in exact order)	pre/s	"disclosure exception" pre/s negligence
within one paragraph (50 words) as another (in any order)	/p	"disclosure exception" /p negligence
within one paragraph (50 words) as another (in exact order)	pre/p	"disclosure exception" pre/p negligence

Multiple Search Connectors

You can also use multiple search connectors when constructing a search string. For example, this search string contains three separate phrases – “partner deduct*”, “excise tax”, and “income tax”. The first phrase must be found within the same paragraph as the second phrase, and also includes an asterisk (“*”) in one of the terms to indicate that any variation of that term is acceptable (e.g., deduct, deduction, deductible, deductibility, etc). However, a document containing this relationship should be excluded if it also contains the phrase “income tax”.

("partner deduct*" /p "excise tax") ^ "income tax"

Wildcard Characters

Wildcard characters act as placeholders that can represent a single character, multiple characters, or an entire word.

When you attach a wildcard to your search terms, Checkpoint retrieves documents that contain either the keywords themselves or variations of your keywords as determined by the type of wildcard you use. See Using Wildcards for examples.

Phrases

When searching using a phrase, the phrase should be surrounded with quotation marks. If the phrase has common words in it (e.g. of, as, a, the) a pound sign (#) should be put in front of them. So "software #as #a service".

Connector Precedence Rules

When a keyword search contains more than one type of connector, precedence rules affect which documents are retrieved by the search.

Precedence Rule	Example
Keyword connectors are processed according to a precedence sequence in which OR, \| has the highest precedence (and thus, is processed first) and ^ has the lowest precedence (and thus, is processed last).	\|, PRE/#, PRE/S, PRE/P, /#, /S, /P, & (space), ^ Where # is a number between 1 and 255.
Precedence rules can be overridden when parentheses are used to construct a query.	(funding & deficiency) \| bankruptcy Since \| has higher precedence than &, \| would normally be processed first. However, with the use of parentheses, the & operator would be processed before the \| operator.
Note that some uses of parentheses to override precedence rules are considered illegal and are reported as a search error. This example would cause a search error.	(income ^ tax) /p corporate

Precedence Rule

Example

Keyword connectors are processed according to a precedence sequence in which OR, | has the highest precedence (and thus, is processed first) and ^ has the lowest precedence (and thus, is processed last).

|, PRE/#, PRE/S, PRE/P, /#, /S, /P, & (space), ^

Where # is a number between 1 and 255.

Precedence rules can be overridden when parentheses are used to construct a query.

(funding & deficiency) | bankruptcy

Since | has higher precedence than &, | would normally be processed first. However, with the use of parentheses, the & operator would be processed before the | operator.

Note that some uses of parentheses to override precedence rules are considered illegal and are reported as a search error. This example would cause a search error.

(income ^ tax) /p corporate