Command Mode Search Help

You have selected Help for the Command Mode Search. The Command Mode Search utilizes a large input box where you may enter Classic LUIS search statements using valid LUIS search commands.

• When should the Command Mode Search be used?
• How are Classic LUIS search statements structured?
• Search types available in a Command Mode Search
• Building complex search statements using a Command Mode Search

How are Classic LUIS search statments structured?

Search types available in a Command Mode Search

Author

To search by author, type a= followed by the author’s full name or as much of the author’s name as you know to be correct on the command line. Type the surname (lastname) first. Click the SUBMIT button.

The system assumes that all author search statements are truncated from the right. Omit diacritics and punctuation from author search statements. You do not need to use capitalization.

Examples:

a=hemingway
a=smith john j
a=conference on distant stars
a=united states senate
a=museum of modern art

Title

To search by title, type t= followed by the exact title of the item or as much of the title as you know to be correct on the command line. Press the ENTER key. Use the tj= command to retrieve only the titles of journals, magazines, newspapers, annuals and other publications that are published more than one time.

Omit diacritics and initial articles (a, an, the) in all languages in title search statements. For best results, you should omit punctuation marks from your search statement.

Examples:

t=sun also rises
tj=saturday evening post
t=brandenburg concertos
tj=classical world

LUIS assumes right truncation of your search statement, so you do not usually have to type the entire title. Truncating the title also helps if you are unsure about the exact title.

Note: If you are not sure of the order of the words in a title, you can use the keyword title search (kt=) command (see Keyword Searching).

Examples:

t=sun also r
t=adventures of huckleb
tj=saturday evening p
t=brandenburg
tj=classical wo

If the beginning words in the title are common, you may want to type in enough of the title to distinguish it from other titles beginning with the same words.

Examples:

tj=journal of the american chem
t=history of jamestown
t=collected works of mark t
t=lecture notes in p

If your retrieval is too high, you can reduce the number of records found by typing in more of the title.

Examples:

t=africa
r=africa a pictorial histo

Subject heading

Subject searching in the library catalogs uses up to 7 commands, depending on the Institution Group. Valid subject search command for the library catalogs include:

• s: general subject headings (defaults to LC subject headings "s" search type)
• sl: Library of Congress
• sm: National Library of Medicine
• sc: Library of Congress Children’s
• so: other/local (includes genre/form)
• sg: reversed geographic
• sx: unified (unifies all subject search types available in the database)

The following table lists valid search commands for each library catalog:

	AM	CF	FA	FI	FS	GC	NF	SF	UF	WF
s/sl	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
sc	yes	yes	no	no	no	yes	no	yes	yes	yes
so	no	yes	yes	no	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
sm	yes	no	no	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
sg	no	no	no	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
sx	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes

You can search subject headings character-by-character from left to right. LUIS assumes that all subject search statements are truncated from the right. LUIS searches for all records containing subject headings that begin with the characters you have typed; therefore, you can enter a partial subject heading.

Do not use diacritics in subject search statements. You should omit punctuation from your search statement. The only punctuation you need to use is two hyphens (to represent a dash) before subject subdivisions in a subject heading.

To devise a subject search statement, use a thesaurus such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), National Library of Medicine Subject Headings (MeSH), Library of Congress Children’s Subject Headings or other subject heading schemes to find the term or phrase that represents the subject you want to search.

If the online public catalog has more than one subject heading scheme, you must specify the scheme you want to search. The search statement that you type after the subject command does not have to be the entire heading from a particular controlled vocabulary.

Entering Subject Search Statements

To perform a unified subject search, type sx= or s= (depending on the database) followed by the appropriate subject heading and press the ENTER key.

Examples:

s=art
s=twain mark
s=semiotics--periodicals
s=united states--history
s=universities and colleges

To request a National Library of Medicine Subject Heading search, use the sm= command.

Examples:

sm=anatomy--atlases
sm=liver neoplasms

To search for a Library of Congress Children’s Subject Heading, use the sc= command.

Examples:

sc=sky--fiction
sc=fairy tales

To request a Library of Congress Subject Heading search, use the s= or sl= command in the library catalogs and s= in the citation databases.

Examples:

sl=advertising
sl=environmental policy
sl=adolescent psychopathology

The Local subject heading search is locally designed and has been established for searching the library’s collection. Check your institution's list of local subject headings before requesting a local subject heading search. To request a local subject heading search, use the so= command.

Examples:

so=city parks--management
so=county elections

If the beginning words in the subject heading are common, you may want to type in enough of the heading to distinguish it from other headings beginning with the same words.

If the subject search statement retrieves too many records, reduce the number of records by typing in more of the subject heading. If your search statement retrieves too few records, you can increase the number of records by typing in less of the heading. Truncating the search statement also helps you if you are unsure of the exact form of the subject heading.

Examples:

s=universities
s=univer
s=archaeology
s=arch

To look for records containing a subject heading with a subdivision, you can use just the main subject heading as a search statement or you can enter the main subject heading followed by two hyphens (to represent a dash) followed by all or part of the subject subdivision.

Examples:

sm=psychiatry
sm=psychiatry--in adult
s=united states
s=united states--economic cond
s=shakespeare william 1564 1616--tragedies

To search for records that have an inverted subject heading containing a comma, replace the comma and the following space with a single space.

Examples:

s=chemistry analytic
s=art buddhist

To search for records that have a subject heading parentheses, do not use parentheses in the search statement.

Example: s=black holes astronomy

Keyword

To search by keyword, type the command k= (or ka=,kn=,ks=, kt=, bk=) and a search statement on the command line, and then press the ENTER key. LUIS supplies the default operator and if more than one term appears in your search statement and you do not explicitly type in the operator in your search statement.

Examples:

k=boolean and databases
k=boolean databases

If only one record matches your search statement, the online public catalog displays the bibliographic record. If more than one record matches your search statement, the online public catalog displays a keyword index.

Superset Qualification

To limit a keyword search to all title fields in a bibliographic record, type the kt= (title superset) command before a search term.

Example: kt=dream

To limit a search to all author fields in bibliographic records, type the ka= (author superset) command before a search term.

Example: ka=shakespeare

To limit a search to all subject fields in bibliographic records, type the ks= (subject superset) command before a search term.

Example: ks=shakespeare

To limit a search to all note fields (such as the abstract) in bibliographic records, type the kn= (notes superset) command before a search term.

Example: kn=character

To limit a keyword search to the journal identification field (773) in a bibliographic record, type the kj= (journal id superset/analytics) command before a search term. This is most useful in the LUIS citation databases rather than the library catalogs.

Example: kj=papers

When you combine terms in a search statement with Boolean or positional operators, or when you "nest" keyword search statements, you can use supersets to qualify the search statement(s).

Suppose you want to retrieve records representing works about "office and secretary." To use the word "office," you would like to distinguish between the search term "office" in a subject context from the search term "office" in an author context, such as "Office of Management and Budget." You would also like to retrieve works that have the word "secretary," in the title. Therefore, you might try the following search.

Example: ks=office and kt=secretary

Suppose you want to retrieve a record when you already had the author's name but were not sure of the exact title. Perhaps you knew that the author was Asimov and that the word, "physics," was in the title. You might try the following search.

Example: ka=asimov and kt=physics

Suppose you want to retrive a book with research notes and/or rough drafts of the architect Bannister's work. You might try the following search.

Example: ka=bannister and kt=papers

Browsing the Keyword Index

There is a special "browse" feature for the keyword index. Browse keyword (bk=) is used to display the closest place in the keyword index to the the text you enter in the input box.

The Headings Browse Screen will display first. From the Headings Browse Screen, you may navigate to the to the Index and from there, to a record. You can return to the Headings view at any point. In the Headings view, there is a column on the right side of the screen for "hits." This number is the count of items indexed under each keyword. When a keyword is selected, the records are listed in an index view.

Truncation is assumed in a browse keyword search.

Suppose you want to browse the headings that begin with the stem "classic." If you enter the following search, you will retrieve such headings as: classics, classical, etc.

Example: bk=classic

Call number

Call number searching uses up to four search commands depending on the Institution Group:

• cd: Dewey Decimal
• cl: Library of Congress and National Library of Medicine
• cs: Superintendent of Documentation (SuDoc)
• co: "Other"

To search by call number, type cd=, cl=, cs=, or co= and click the SUBMIT button. If you don’t know the entire call number, enter in a number as close to the call number as you know to be correct.

In general, punctuation should be omitted from the call number search. But, you should include the decimal point in the numeric portion of Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress call numbers where it is appropriate.

Dewey Decimal call numbers contain a root, a three-digit whole number greater than zero and less than 1000. If the number is less than zero, then leading zeroes are required. The call number may have a decimal extension. An alphabetic prefix of one or more letters may appear before the root classification number.

Examples:

cd=133.12345678
cd=398
cd=001.678
cd=REF 347.97
cd=Y92 D343a2

Library of Congress call numbers begin with alphabetic characters. You may enter part or all of a specific call number.

Examples:

cl=F1765
cl=HD 9861.9
cl=KF1250 Z9R8

Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) call numbers are divided into three elements: author symbol, series designation, and book number. The author symbol is separated from the series designation by a period. Most begin with an alphabetic character.

SuDoc numbers tend to be heavily punctuated. You may, for legibility, include punctuation in your search. However, the system will accept and correctly process SuDoc numbers as long as you remember to always replace any punctuation with a space.

Examples:

cs=I 19.110:37077-AI-TM-100/984 OR
cs=I 19 110 37077 AI TM 100 984

cs=HE 20.3173/2:CB 04/16 OR
cs=HE 20 3173 2 CB 04 16

cs=68-2:S.doc.227,2 pts. OR
cs=68 2 S doc 227 2 pts

“Other” call numbers are essentially free form and share no common characteristics. They are classified by the format of the material itself. They may include textual terms, such as “Videocassette”; incorrect forms of call numbers intended for other sections of the index, such as “LC22331;.R45 1974” coded as “LC - ”; and call numbers from some alternate class scheme, such as those used for state documents, for example, “OH-1988/SS24.443.”

Example:

co=film
co=f 12864 L 6 H 38 1986
co=Films A 287
co=microfiche
co=mic 90

Standard number

Standard number searching uses four search commands:

• nl: Library of Congress Control Number
• nb: International Standard Book Number
• ns: International Standard Serial Number
• no: OCLC Control Number

To search by standard number, type nl=, nb=, ns=, or no= and click the SUBMIT button. If you don’t know the entire standard number, you do not need to type the entire number because the system assumes that all search terms are truncated on the right. The standard number index program searches for all index entries that begin with the characters you type.

If you are searching for an ISBN or ISSN, use of the hyphen is optional. Otherwise, when a number contains a hyphen, you must include it in the search term. Any blank spaces that are an integral part of a control number must be included in the search term. For punctuation characters other than hyphens, you can include the character, or you can substitute a space for the character.

Examples:

nl=87-10328
nb=0849364949
ns=4022558180
no=10787772

Building complex search statements using a Command Mode Search

Nested and combined searches

General Information

You can combine Boolean and proximity operators in the same search statement. A search statement must not begin or end with an operator, and you must always separate an operator from a search term with a blank space. If you omit an operator between two terms, the system always uses the default operator, which is and.

Nesting, which uses multiple levels of parentheses to enclose terms, enables you to specify the order in which you would like the system to execute the various components of your search statement. Nesting helps you keep your search priorities clear when creating a search statement and permits you to link your search concepts in a logical fashion.

Processing Order for Searches

When you enter a search statement without using parentheses, the system processes Boolean and proximity operators in the following order:

• and
• not
• adj
• near
• within n (where n is a number)
• same
• or

The system processes the operators in this order regardless of the order in which you entered them. When more than one operator is used, the system sets a priority for combining terms. That is, there is an assigned order of operations. The and, not, and all proximity operations are performed first. Or combinations are performed later.

Examples:

k=dogs or cats and health

Results: records on "cats and health" or "dogs"

k=costs and malingering or absenteeism

Results: records on "costs and malingering" or "absenteeism"

In the above examples, LUIS first retrieves the records for "cats and health." Then the LUIS retrieves the records for "dogs." Finally, LUIS displays the records of both searches. In the second example above, LUIS first retrieves the records for "costs and malingering." Then the LUIS retrieves the records for "absenteeism." Finally, LUIS displays the records of both searches.

You may override the order in which the system processes Boolean operators by using parentheses. When you use parentheses, the system first processes what is within the sets of parentheses before being combined with other operators and terms in the search.

Examples:

k=(dogs or cats) and health

Results: records on "cats or dogs" and "health"

k=costs and (malingering or absenteeism)

Results: records on "malingering or absenteeism" and "costs"

In the above examples, LUIS first retrieves the records for "cats or dogs." Then the LUIS retrieves the records for "health." Finally, LUIS displays the records common to these two searches. In the second example above, LUIS first retrieves the records for "malingering or absenteeism." Then the LUIS retrieves the records for "costs." Finally, LUIS displays the records common to these two searches.

Parentheses within Parentheses

Sometimes an information request requires that you use parentheses within parentheses. When your nested search statement includes parentheses within parentheses, the system processes the inner parentheses first, the outer parentheses next, and finally processes these results with any search terms outside the parentheses.

You may use multiple levels of parentheses (or nesting) if needed. Be sure that each set of parentheses is complete.

Example: k=((cat or feline) and training) not pets

In the above example, LUIS first retrieves the records for "cat or feline." Then LUIS retrieves the records for "training." Next, LUIS retrieves the records common to these two searches. Finally, LUIS omits the records that contain the term, "pets." The parenthetical statement nested inside are processed first, then the outer parenthetical statement is processed. Finally terms on the outside are processed.

You may use any combination of Boolean and proximity operators in the same search.

Example 1: k=(absenteeism or truancy) and (cost adj analysis)

In the above example, LUIS first retrieves the records for "cost adj analysis." Then LUIS retrieves the records for "absenteeism or truancy." Finally, LUIS displays the records common to these two searches. The parenthetical statements are processed in this order because the adj operator is ahead of the or operator in the processing order of operators.

Example 2: k=costs same (employee adj (absenteeism or malingering))

In the above example, LUIS retrieves the records for "absenteeism or malingering." The inner parenthetical statement is processed first. Then, of those records, LUIS retrieves those records, "adj employee." Finally, the same operator is processed because it is outside of the parentheses.

Complex LUIS searches

Your search statements may be manipulated to increase or decrease the amount of records retrieved. You may do this by limiting, nesting, setting parameters, and constructing complex search statements using operators.

Limiting

You may combine any search with a request to limit the results to records having a specific date, language, or format. You may also limit the results to records of materials within a specific location. To do this, you must add limit qualifiers to your search statements. You may use the double ampersand (&&) to filter a qualifier to your search statement or you may use and to add a qualifier to your search statement.

Qualifiers may be combined with a=, t=, and s= commands. When you use and the resulting set will look like a keyword search (no subject headings). When you use the double ampersand (&&) you will filter your search. The resulting set may be subject headings or keyword, depending on your search terms.

In the examples below the search with the double ampersand (&&) will result in a subject headings display because the system looks at the entire statement before the double ampersand (&&) and uses that search type to determine which index type to display. The and search will result in a keyword display. Many times the keyword search results in fewer "hits" than the subject headings search. This is because subject headings may have extra entires, re-directs, and/or subdivisions while keyword excludes duplication.

Examples:

a=shakespeare && kt=hamlet
a=shakespeare and kt=hamlet

Limiting by Date

To limit your search by publication date, you must add one of the qualifiers && or and followed by date= or dt= and the date.

A date range may be:

• a single year— dt=1994
• a range in which the first and last dates are specified using a hyphen to divide the range— dt=1990-1995
• a range with the ending date open using a hyphen at the end— dt=1985- (this would include the year 1985 to the present)
• a range with the beginning date being open using a hyphen at the beginning— -1982 (this would include all years before 1983)

Examples:

a=hemingway && dt=1930-1940
a=smith john j and date=-1965
ks=stars and moons && date=1955-
t=catcher in the rye and dt=1951
s=modern art && dt=1996

You can search for date ranges or ranges of search terms by using the truncation symbol (?), as long as a minimum of three digits is entered (dt=199?). You cannot use two truncation symbols on date ranges in the same search. If you do not specify a date field when searching date ranges, your search results may be misleading, because other fields where those numbers occur will also be retrieved.

Examples:
ks=epilepsy && date=198?-1990
t=catcher in the rye and dt=195?
a=maugham && dt=191?

The system truncates to the first four characters of the dates, including nonnumeric characters. If the system reaches its search limit on the first date, it will not search for the second date.

If the system does not reach its search limit on the first date, then it will search for the second date strictly as a date. As a result, you should search by as narrow a range as possible. The second and third examples above show a search using a narrow range.

Limiting by Format

You may limit your search to materials in a particular physical format, for example, compact disk or video recording. To limit your search by format, you must add one of the qualifiers && or and followed by format= or fmt= and the format code. Valid format codes vary from catalog to catalog.

Some valid format codes may be:

• a map— fmt=map
• a sound recording— format=rec or format=cas (if the sound recording is a cassette)
• Braille— fmt=br or braille
• a film/motion picture— fmt=film

NOTE: Multiple codes may apply to a single item, as with cassette tape, which would be indexed under cas (for cassette), but also under the broader rec (for sound recording).

Examples:

a=hemingway and format=braille
a=grisham john && fmt=cas
ks=florida and counties && fmt=map
t=catcher in the rye and fmt=rec
s=modern art && format=film

Limiting by Language

To limit your search by language, you must add one of the qualifiers && or and followed by language=, lang=, or lng= and the language code. The language codes are based on the USMARC Code List for Languages. Valid language codes vary from catalog to catalog.

Some valid language codes may be:

• German— lng=ger
• Greek, Ancient— language=grc or Greek, Modern— lang=gre
• Japanese— lang=jpn
• Multiple languages— lng=mul

NOTE: Limiting by the English language (eng) is NOT supported at this time. Also, if a work was written using several languages, all languages will be indexed.

Examples:

a=marx karl && language=rus
a=homer && lang=grc
ks=goethe && lng=ger
t=don quijote and lang=spa
s=bible && language=mul
k=bible and lang=ger && lang=spa

Limiting by Location

Depending on the particular library catalog, you may limit your search by location group. That is, several locations are "grouped" together by an institution to allow you perform one search of several locations. Location groupings may allow you to limit your search to materials within a primary location, for example, main library only, branch library only, or branch campus libraries (if applicable) or you may limit your search to materials within a specific sublocation (within a library or campus). For example, the map section in the main library or the reference sections in all of a specific campus' libraries.

To limit your search by primary location, you must add one of the qualifiers && or and followed by lcn= and the location code. To limit your search by sublocation, you must add one of the qualifiers && followed by sloc= and the sublocation code. To limit your search by combined location and sublocation, you must add one of the qualifiers && followed by lsl= and the combined location/sublocation code. Location codes vary from catalog to catalog.

To limit your search by location groups, you must add one of the qualifiers followed by loc= and the location group code. Location groups are different in each institution's catalog.

Location search types are:

• && lcn= (primary location code)
• && sloc= (sublocation code - i.e. within a library)
• && lsl= (combined location/sublocation code)
• && loc= (location group code or other library specified grouping)

Examples:

s=environment && lcn=main
a=montessori && lsl=educref
kt=colliers and sloc=ref

NOTE: You must know the specific location codes used in order to limit searches in this manner. Remember these codes vary from institution group to institution group. Also note that punctuation should be omitted in the location based search statements.

Complex Nested Searches

You can combine Boolean operators, proximity operators, and limits in the same search statement. A search statement must not begin or end with an operator, and you must always separate an operator from a search term with a blank space. If you omit an operator between two terms, the system always uses the default operator, which is and. Parentheses should be used to specify the order in which you would like the system to execute the various components of your search statement. You may use multiple levels of parentheses (or nesting) if needed. Be sure that each set of parentheses is complete.

Examples:

kt=oil same (gas adj journal)
kt=(microcomput? or software) && dt=1995 and fmt=mic
k=((education or school?) and testing) && dt=1991-
ks=((cat? or feline?) and training) not pet?
a=montessori && loc=educ && dt=1960-1965

Common Complex Searching Mistakes The following is a list of common complex searching mistakes:

• Unmatched parentheses
• Incorrect syntax logic
• Incorrect truncation format
• Misspelled search terms
• No truncation symbol
• Search statement begins or ends with a Boolean or proximity operator
• Search statement includes stopwords
• Severe truncation