Software of the Month Club 1996 May

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CHAPTER 11 LISTS OF SIMILAR PERSONS, FAMILIES AND NOTES OR SEARCHING YOUR FOLDER FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION PART C: OPERATORS USED IN WHERE COMMANDS... In this section we assume that you know what a WHERE command is, how it's used, and what it's used for. We also assume that you know what an operator in a WHERE command is. If you haven't done so already, review the first section in this chapter, which is entitled "An Introduction with Basic Examples". The WHERE command provides for a number of operators. We'll list them first, and explain each of them in turn afterward: Operators for numbers: 1. Less Than 2. Less Than or Equal To 3. Equal To 4. Not Equal To 5. Greater Than 6. Greater Than or Equal To Operators for Dates: (Note that the operators for strings, below, also apply to dates, but when those operators are applied, GIM LISTS treats the date as a string of characters rather than as a point in time.) 1. Before 2. On or Before 3. On 4. After 5. On or After Operators for Strings: 1. Equal To 2. Not Equal To 3. Starts With 4. Contains 5. Ends With 6. Is Missing 7. Is Acceptable 8. Is Complete Operators for Notes: 1. Contains 2. Is Missing Operators for Special Situations: 1. Colon (:) A Note About Operators: All of the operators described in this section can be negated by prefixing them with any of the following: ISN'T IS NOT DOESN'T DOES NOT In other words, for every positive operator, there is a corresponding negative operator. For example ... "CONTAINS" becomes "DOESN'T CONTAIN", "IS EQUAL TO" becomes "IS NOT EQUAL TO", "IS ON OR BEFORE" becomes "IS NOT ON OR BEFORE", ... and so on. This means that you can come up with some pretty odd sounding negative operators -- "DOES NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO" is a legal operator, but is more simply stated "IS GREATER THAN" -- but it also gives you the power to say whatever you want to say. Operators for Numbers: 1. Less Than Synonyms: LT, <, and IS LESS THAN Example: WHERE children LT 5 This WHERE command selects persons or families who have fewer than five children. 2. Less Than or Equal To Synonyms: LE, <=, and IS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO Example: WHERE children LE 5 This WHERE command selects persons or families who have at most five children. 3. Equal To Synonyms: EQ, =, ==, IS, EQUAL, EQUALS, and IS EQUAL TO Example: WHERE children EQ 5 This WHERE command selects persons or families who have exactly five children. 4. Not Equal To Synonyms: NE, !=, <>, ISN'T, DOESN'T EQUAL, and IS NOT EQUAL TO Example: WHERE children NE 5 This WHERE command selects persons or families who have any number of children but five. 5. Greater Than Synonyms: GT, >, and IS GREATER THAN Example: WHERE children GT 5 This WHERE command selects persons or families who have more than five children. 6. Greater Than or Equal To Synonyms: GE, >=, and IS GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO Example: WHERE children GE 5 This WHERE command selects persons or families who have at least five children. Operators for Dates: 1. Before Synonyms: BEFORE and IS BEFORE Example: WHERE birth date is before "4 Jul 1776" This WHERE command selects persons who where born before 4 Jul 1776. Those born ON 4 Jul 1776 are NOT selected. 2. On or Before Synonyms: ON OR BEFORE and IS ON OR BEFORE Example: WHERE birth date is on or before "4 Jul 1776" This WHERE command selects persons who where born on or before 4 Jul 1776. Those born ON 4 Jul 1776 ARE selected. 3. On Synonyms: ON and IS ON Example: WHERE birth date is on "4 Jul 1776" This WHERE command selects persons who where born on 4 Jul 1776, and excludes all others. Note that the opposite of "IS ON" is "IS NOT ON" and variations; this would select only those persons NOT born on 4 Jul 1776, which is rarely very useful, but it's possible anyway. 4. After Synonyms: AFTER and IS AFTER Example: WHERE birth date is after "4 Jul 1776" This WHERE command selects persons who where born after 4 Jul 1776. Those born ON 4 Jul 1776 are NOT selected. 5. On or After Synonyms: ON OR AFTER and IS ON OR AFTER Example: WHERE birth date is on or after "4 Jul 1776" This WHERE command selects persons who where born on or after 4 Jul 1776. Those born ON 4 Jul 1776 ARE selected. Operators for Strings: 1. Equal To Synonyms: EQ, =, ==, IS, EQUAL, EQUALS, and IS EQUAL TO Example: WHERE birth date EQ "30 Apr 1964" This WHERE command selects persons whose birth date is "30 Apr 1964". Note that persons whose birth date is "30 April 1964" will NOT be selected. (See IS ON under Operators for Dates, above.) Example: WHERE birth place EQ "Poland" This WHERE command selects persons whose birth place is "Poland". Note that persons whose birth place contains "Poland", but is not identical to "Poland", such as "Posen, Poland", will NOT be selected. (See CONTAINS, below.) 2. Not Equal To Synonyms: NE, !=, <>, ISN'T, DOESN'T EQUAL, and IS NOT EQUAL TO Example: WHERE birth place NE "Italy" This WHERE command selects persons whose birth place is NOT "Italy". Note that persons whose birth place is "Rome, Italy" WILL be selected. (See CONTAINS, below.) 3. Starts With Synonyms: STARTS WITH, START WITH Example: WHERE surname STARTS WITH "Mad" This WHERE command selects persons whose surnames start with "Mad", including "Madsen", "Madison", "Maddox", etc. Note that DOESN'T START WITH is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of STARTS WITH. 4. Contains Synonyms: CONTAIN, CONTAINS, and DOES CONTAIN Example: WHERE birth place CONTAINS "York" This WHERE command selects any person whose birth place contains the word "York". Note that all of the following birth places will be selected: Rye, Westchester, New York Halifax, Yorkshire, England York Township, Ontario, Canada Note that the following birth places will NOT be selected UNLESS case sensitivity is OFF. (See the section entitled "A Glossary of GIM LISTS Commands with Examples", under the heading CASESENS, for details.) yorkshire, england NEW YORK CITY Note that the following birth place will NEVER be selected: Cambridge, Washington, NY Note that DOESN'T CONTAIN is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of CONTAINS. 5. Ends With Synonyms: ENDS WITH, END WITH Example: WHERE surname ENDS WITH "sen" This WHERE command selects persons whose surnames start with "sen", including "Madsen", "Larsen", "Johansen", etc. Note that DOESN'T END WITH is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of ENDS WITH. 6. Is Missing Synonyms: IS MISSING Example: WHERE birth date is missing This WHERE command selects persons whose birth date is empty. Any part of a person or family which is capable of containing a string, such as first names, last names, dates, places, the AFN and the REFN may be tested for being missing. Note that ISN'T MISSING is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of IS MISSING. 7. Is Acceptable Synonyms: IS ACCEPTABLE The "IS ACCEPTABLE" operator only has meaning when applied to dates, and to LDS ordinance places (baptisms, endowments, and sealings). Note that IS NOT ACCEPTABLE is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of IS ACCEPTABLE. Example: WHERE birth date is acceptable A date is "acceptable" if it occurred during or after the year 1000 AD. Strictly speaking, a date is acceptable if it contains a number greater than 1000. The concept of a date being "acceptable" should be thought of as being "better than nothing, but not necessarily complete". Example: WHERE endowment place is acceptable A place is "acceptable" if GIM LISTS can figure out which temple is intended by the place string; or if the place string contains the word "living", indicating a living LDS baptism. The following places are acceptable, but not complete: Manti Temple Salt Lake City Hawaii Switzerland The following places are not acceptable: Hawaiian Temple Swiss Temple ??? Unrecognized Temple ??? 8. Is Complete Synonyms: IS COMPLETE The "IS COMPLETE" operator only has meaning when applied to dates, and to LDS ordinance places (baptisms, endow- ments, and sealings). Note that IS NOT COMPLETE is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of IS COMPLETE. Example: WHERE birth date is complete A date is "complete" if it is in the form "DD Month YYYY", such as "30 Apr 1964" or "4 July 1776". Note that "4 Jul 1776" and "4 July 1776" are both equally complete, as are "5 Sep 1939" and "5 Sept 1939". The concept of a date being "complete" should be thought of as "contains no ambiguities, such as question marks or other punctuation." In other words, the following dates are not complete (although they are all acceptable): 3 or 30 Apr 1964 before 1700 16 Jul 1962? 5,6 Aug 1894 Example: WHERE endowment place is complete A place is "complete" if GIM LISTS can figure out which temple is intended by the place string, AND if that place string is the same place name that is contained in the GIMTPL.GIM file. A place name is also complete if the place string contains the word "living", indicating a living LDS baptism. The following places are complete: The Manti, Utah Temple The Salt Lake City, Utah Temple The Laie, Hawaii Temple The Zollikofen, Switzerland Temple Operators for Notes: 1. Contains Synonyms: CONTAIN, CONTAINS, DOES CONTAIN Example: WHERE birth source notes CONTAIN "microfilm" This WHERE command selects persons whose birth source notes contain the word "microfilm" anywhere in the note. This operator functions similarly to the CONTAINS operator for strings. Note that DOESN'T CONTAIN is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of CONTAINS. 2. Is Missing Synonyms: IS MISSING Example: WHERE birth source notes IS MISSING This WHERE command selects persons whose birth source notes are empty. This operator functions similarly to the IS MISSING operator for strings. Note that ISN'T MISSING is a valid operator, and represents the opposite of IS MISSING. Operators for Special Situations: 1. The Colon Operator Synonyms: : Example: WHERE any source note : contains "microfilm" and doesn't contain "census" This WHERE command selects all persons or families where any note contains the word "microfilm" but doesn't contain the word "census". PLEASE NOTE: The colon operator is considered an advanced -- rather than a basic -- feature of GIM LISTS, and it should only be attempted by those persons who feel comfortable with the basic features of GIM LISTS, and who have read and understood the section entitled "Advanced Examples; Arcane WHERE Command Syntax". See that section for more details.