Truncation and Proximity Operators

If you want to narrow or broaden your search, you may want to find out if truncation and proximity operators are available in the database you are using. Look in the help screens to find out about these useful operators. This Web page has the truncation and proximity operators for selected databases. They are listed by vendor name or database name.

Truncation is a mechanism for searching multiple terms that begin with a desired prefix. For example, "build" with a truncation symbol will search for build, building, buildings, builder, etc. The symbol varies from database to database. The truncations symbol is frequently an asterisk (*), dollar sign ($), or plus sign (+). In some databases, truncation is used to search for the root word only. Read the help screens in the database for exact details.

For example:

Software/ Vendor/ Database

truncation symbol
what is retrieved

example

finds

Innovative (SAGE)

build*

build, builds, building, builder, etc.

EBSCO
(Academic Search Premier/Business Source Premier and many others)

*	comput*	computer, computing, computation, etc.
? replaces that number of character(s)	ne?t	neat, nest, next (will not find "net")

OCLC/FirstSearch®

+ plurals with added s or es only	success+	success, successes
* only after third character	instruction*	instruction, instructions, instructional
# one character	wom#n	women, woman
? zero to nine characters	colo?r	color, colour, colonizer, colorimeter
?# with maximum number to be replaced indicated	colo?1r	color, colour

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts

CSA Illumina

* root and within words (need three characters first)	famil*	family, families
* root and within words (need three characters first)	behavi*r	behavior, behaviour
?, ??, ???, ???? root and within words; only retrieves words with exact number of ?	wom?n	women, woman
	carbon fib??	carbon fiber, carbon fibre
	cell?	cells and cello (but not cell)

WebSPIRS™ (SilverPlatter)

* zero or more, anywhere except first letter of word	fund	fund, funds, funding
? one or zero (wildcard), anywhere except first letter of word	dr???t	draft, draught

Ovid®

$ or :	disease$	disease, diseases, diseased
$# limited to # number of characters after the root word	dog$1	dog, dogs (but not dogma)
# can replace exactly one character	wom#n	women, woman
? to replace 1 or zero characters	colo?r	color, colour

ISI®
Web of Science®

* zero or more characters	pharmac	pharmacy, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical
* zero or more characters	sul*ur	sulphur, sulfer
? can replace exactly one character	en?oblast	endoblast, entoblast
? can replace exactly one character	ch?mi*	chemist, chemistry, chimia, chimica, chmemie
$ one or no character	enrol$ment	enrolment, enrollment

LexisNexis®

! replaces any number of letters following a root word	litigat!	litigate, litigator, litigant, etc.
* replaces one or up to specified number of letters, anywhere except first letter of word	bank***	banker, banking (but not bankrupt)
	wom*n	women, woman

JSTOR

& searches singular and plural forms of English words (only)	cat&	cat & cats
	fox&	fox & foxes
	shelf+	shelf & shelves
? zero or one character in a word. Use multiple ? for more than one letter--only will replace up to the number of ?	te?ts	tets, tents, tests, texts
	bird???	bird, birding, birdman, birds

BiblioLine

* records must contain root word (multicharacter)	employ*	employ, employee, employer, employed, etc.
? single character replacement	wind?	wind, winds, windy

ABC CLIO

(Historical Abstracts, Amerca: History & Life)

* one or more characters	economi*	economic, economies, economika, economides, etc.
? replaces one character; add additional ? for each additional character	Pe?ers?n	Peterson, Pedersen, Petersen

Project MUSE

* zero or more characters, at end of words only

modern*

modern, modernity, modernism, etc.

Alexander Street Press

(Full text: primary sources including diaries, letters, drama, poetry, etc. Also biographies)

. any single character	gentlem.n	gentleman, gentlemen
* any string of characters (beginning, middle, or end of a word)	cigar* c.eers habit	cigar, cigars, cigarette, etc. compeers, cheers, careers habit, cohabit, inhabit
.? matches characters entered plus one more character	hono.?r	honor, honour
[a-z] matches a single character in the specified range	civili[zs]e	civilize, civilise
# matches capitalized words only (does not work with OR operator : \| [pipe])	#bacon	Bacon (but not bacon)
CAPITAL LETTER matches all accented and non-accented forms of it	naIvetE	naïveté (with or without accents)

Serial Set

? single character	wom?n	women, woman
* multiple characters	environment*	environment, environments, environmental, environmentalist, etc.
* multiple characters	Pen*lvania	Pennsylvania, Pensilvania

Science Direct

! replaces any number of letters following a root word	behav!	behave, behaviour, behavioural, etc.
* replaces characters anywhere in a word, except the first character; at end of word include as many * as want found	wom*n	women, woman
	transplant**	transplant, transplanted, transplanter (but not transplantation or transplanting)
	Bernst**n	Bernstein, Bernstien

Proximity operators are a way to ensure that search terms appear next to one another, within a certain number of words, or appear in the same sentence, paragraph, or field (part of a record; for example, title or abstract). "With" and "near" may have different meanings, depending on the database, so always read the help screens for details. In the descriptions below "#" may stand for any number. Some of the vendors/databases listed above do not support proximity operators, so they are not included in the chart below.

For example:

Software/Vendor/Database

proximity operators

example

Innovative (SAGE)

within # words within a set range of each other	Colorado within 12 Wyoming
near words close to one another, order not important	California near university

EBSCO
(Academic Search Premier/Business Source Premier and many others)

[Use with keyword or Boolean search.]
W# words in exact order, can be up to # words apart	tax W8 reform
N# words may be up to # words apart, order not important	tax N5 reform

OCLC/FirstSearch®

w words in exact order	successful w job
w# words in exact order, can be # of words apart (number between 1-25)	successful w3 job
n words next to one another, order not important	successful n job
n# words may be # apart, order not important (number between 1-25)	successful n3 job

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts

CSA Illumina

within # words may be up to # apart, order not important	carbon within 3 fiber
near # words may be up to 10 words apart, order not important (same as within 10)	women near violence
before finds words in relative order, adjacency not implied	social before security
after finds words in relative order specified, adjacency not implied	scope after science
no operator: words immediately adjacent and in the same order

WebSPIRS™ (SilverPlatter)

near words in same sentence, order not important	gold near discovery
near# words within # words, order not important, in same sentence	soil near3 acid
with words in same field, order not important	conservation with wetlands
adj words next to each other in specific order	dyslexia adj treatments

Ovid®

ADJ# two or more terms, order not important

cure ADJ4 cancer

ISI®

Web of Science®

SAME words in same sentence, phrase ending in a semi-colon, or text string ending with a line break. Order not important

hepatitis SAME treatment

laser* SAME gas

LexisNexis®

w/# connector; # from 1-255, word order not important	Colorado w/10 Fort Collins
w/p both words in same paragraph	case w/p court
w/s words in same sentence	elected w/s officials
pre/# both words in document, first word must preceed second by exact number of words	cable pre/2 television
NOT W/# first word must appear in document; second word may also appear but only if it is not within # words of first word	rico NOT W/5 puerto

JSTOR

~ # words within specific number of words. Terms need to be within " "

"debt forgiveness"~10

BiblioLine

near# words within # words of each other, in any order	environment near3 pollution
adj# words within # words of each other, same order	bilingual adj3 education

Serial Set

ADJ# words within # words of each other in the same order	Monroe ADJ3 James
near# words withing # words of each other in any order	Jackson near5 Florida

Science Direct

W/# (# between 1-255) words withing # words of each other in any order	pain W/15 morphine
PRE/# words in exact order, can be # of words apart (number between 1-255)	behavioural PRE/3 disturbances
W/SEG words must appear in same field	lesion W/SEG pancreatic
NOT W/# first word must appear in document; second word may also appear but only if it is not within # words of first word	impaired circulation NOT W/5 diabetes

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Comments/Suggestions: Naomi Lederer