Search Words

To search a VMSIndex database, press your client's search command key or button while viewing the database cover page (from which you reached this help file) and submit a QUERY.

The indexed/boolean search engine allows a client to query an index for keywords (case-insensitive) and return a menu of documents or sections in the database which contain them. The use of both text keywords and boolean operators allows clients to tailor searches to their individual needs, for example:

fote* html or vms not junk

A QUERY consists an Expression, optionally	Query: expr {expr}
followed by another Expression; "AND" is 
assumed between multiple expressions.

Each EXPRESSION contains a Term, optionally	Expr: term {OR term}
followed by "OR" and another Term.

A TERM is a Factor, optionally followed by	Term: factor {and|not factor}
"AND" or "NOT" and another Factor.

A FACTOR can be a Token, or another Query.	Factor: (query) | token

A TOKEN is a keyword.				Token:  keyword

A KEYWORD is a string of alphabetic		Keyword: a-z{a-z}[*]
characters of any length.  An asterisk
indicates that any characters following
those specified should be accepted.