CATEGORIES
BOOLEAN SEARCH TIPS
Boolean Full-Text Search Mode Operators
None
By default (when neither + nor - is specified) the word is optional, but the rows that contain it are rated higher. This mimics the behavior of MATCH() ... AGAINST() without the IN BOOLEAN MODE modifier.
+
A leading plus sign indicates that this word must be present in every row returned.
-
A leading minus sign indicates that this word must not be present in any row returned.
> <
These two operators are used to change a word's contribution to the relevance value that is assigned to a row. The > operator increases the contribution and the < operator decreases it. See the example below.
( )
Parentheses are used to group words into subexpressions. Parenthesized groups can be nested.
~
A leading tilde acts as a negation operator, causing the word's contribution to the row relevance to be negative. It's useful for marking noise words. A row that contains such a word is rated lower than others, but is not excluded altogether, as it would be with the - operator.
"
A phrase that is enclosed within double quote ('"') characters matches only rows that contain the phrase literally, as it was typed. The full-text engine splits the phrase into words, performs a search in the FULLTEXT index for the words.
Booelan Full-Text Search Examples
apple banana
Find rows that contain at least one of the two words.
+apple +juice
Find rows that contain both words.
+apple macintosh
Find rows that contain the word ``apple'', but rank rows higher if they also contain ``macintosh''.
+apple -macintosh
Find rows that contain the word ``apple'' but not ``macintosh''.
+apple +(>turnover
Find rows that contain the words ``apple'' and ``turnover'', or ``apple'' and ``strudel'' (in any order), but rank ``apple turnover'' higher than ``apple strudel''.
apple*
Find rows that contain words such as ``apple'', ``apples'', ``applesauce'', or ``applet''.
"some words"
Find rows that contain the exact phrase ``some words'' (for example, rows that contain ``some words of wisdom'' but not ``some noise words''). Note that the '"' characters that surround the phrase are operator characters that delimit the phrase. They are not the quotes that surround the search string itself.