Search using operators

The content of this website is last updated to F2 version 11. cBrain are working hard on supplying you with the newest documentation of F2.

Searches can yield an extensive list of results. Using operators may help you narrow down the results to make them more useful. You can use operators in both the free-text search field and in advanced search fields where you can enter text.

F2 supports the following operators:

You can combine several operators in the same search string to make very precise searches. For example, search for citizen* AND (consultation OR "Re: Consultation") to find a record with the title "Re: Consultation in citizen’s case" or a chat with the text, "I have received the citizen’s consultation response".

F2 interprets the asterisk (*), quotation marks (” ”), AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses solely as operators. It is not possible to perform searches that consist only of these symbols or words as they are used for defining searches and not to denote contents. In other words, *, ” ”, AND, OR, NOT, and () cannot be used as search strings.

Search using asterisk *

Enter a search string followed by * to search for words that begin with the entered string. If you type day* into the search field, the search will find all records in the selected list whose content, title, or case title contain words that begin with day, such as "daycare", "days", or "daytime".

Strings written in a search field without the asterisk (*) are perceived as whole words. For example, typing day in a search field will return any records that contain the word day, but not records that contain the word days, for example.

It is only possible to use an asterisk as a suffix, that is, at the end of the word, as in day*. Using * before or in the middle of a word will not yield any search results.

Search using quotation marks “ ”

If you add quotation marks (“ ”) to a word combination, for example “Mary Smith”, F2 will search for this exact text string. This search will then exclude results such as “Mary Jane Smith” or “Mary and John Smith”.

Logical operators

Use the logical operators AND, OR, and NOT to describe the relationship between two search terms within the same object. Examples of objects are record titles, attached documents, and case titles. This means that you may get results in which your search string matches the content of the record’s document text, but not its title.

Read more about search objects in F2.

Use parentheses when combining several logical operators in one string. This will ensure that F2 understands your search string correctly.

Search using AND

Type AND between two search words to search for records that contain both words. This means that a search for minister AND department only yields results containing both "minister" and "department".

illustration search and
Figure 1. Illustration of a search with AND

F2 interprets two words separated by a space as if there were an AND between the words. In other words, AND is the implicit operator between two words when nothing else is specified.

Search using OR

Type OR between two search words to find records containing either word. This means that minister OR department will return all records containing either "minister" or "department".

illustration search or
Figure 2. Illustration of a search with OR

A search with OR both yields results that contain one of the search words and results that contain both search words.

Search using NOT

This operator is used to search for results that contain search term A, but exclude results that also have search term B. This search uses the structure search term A NOT search term B.

For example, searching for meeting NOT grant yields results where at least one object contains the word "meeting", but not "grant". However, the word "grant" may appear in another the object of the same record.

illustration search not
Figure 3. Illustration of a search with NOT

It is not possible to perform a search that only contains NOT followed by a word. The reason is that the database generates a positive search list before removing records which do not contain the term specified after NOT.

Search using parentheses

You can group words by using parentheses. For example, a search for meeting AND agenda OR participants will yield results that contain the two words "meeting" and "agenda" and results containing the word "participants". You can make the search more precise by adding parentheses. For example, a search for meeting AND (agenda OR participants) will yield results containing both "meeting" and "agenda", along with results containing both "meeting" and "participants".

Stop words configuration

A function called “Stop words” can be configured for your entire F2 installation. Stop words are a collection of words, symbols, and other characters that is excluded from free-text searches.

These include common words such as “and”, “but”, or “for”. When the configuration is active, entering a stop word in a search field or metadata field will not yield any results.

Configurations are performed in cooperation with cBrain.