Microsoft KB Archive/66993

= Noise Words Are Wildcards in &quot;Phrase Search&quot; in PRISM Browser =

Article ID: 66993

Article Last Modified on 7/30/2001



This article was previously published under Q66993



SUMMARY
Below is a list of &quot;noise words&quot; that are ignored when you query in the PRISM Browser or KB Query Service. (KB Query Service can be run either as a stand-alone app or as a component of Workbench. Noise words only impact your query by giving more articles than you may have expected.)



MORE INFORMATION
For multiple-word phrase searches, if you are searching for a contiguous phrase surrounded by double quotation marks, and any noise word from the list below appears anywhere within the quotation marks, then the noise words are ignored. The remaining words are searched in order and by proximity accounting for the space that is taken by the noise words. In other words, you may get a few additional articles because noise words act as wildcards within the contiguous phrases surrounded by double quotation marks.

For more information see Query Quick Reference Under the Help menu in either PRISM Browser or KB Query Service.

Below are some sample queries, followed by the actual search that is performed: Your query                 Actual search             Noise words ---

this thing under that      THING                     this, under, that out of memory              MEMORY                    out, of &quot;Out of memory&quot;             MEMORY                    out, of &quot;Division by zero&quot;          &quot;DIVISION @@ ZERO&quot;        by &quot;END IF without Block IF&quot;   &quot;END @@@@@@@@@ BLOCK&quot;     if, without &quot;NEXT without FOR&quot; error   NEXT & ERROR              without, for &quot;String space corrupt&quot;     &quot;STRING SPACE CORRUPT&quot;    [none] The number of @ symbols shown above tells you how many character positions (not counting spaces) act as wildcards, which match any word in that position. (@ is not a query operator.)

Why Use Noise Words?
The query engine uses index files and records the position of every non- noise word in every article. Index files are automatically updated on a regular basis. Ignoring (not indexing) noise words significantly reduces the size and update time for index files.

In addition, the words in the list of noise words are very common and some words aren't always significant in refining or reducing the number of articles returned.

Noise Word List
after also an and as at be because before between but by for from however if in into of or other out since such than that the there these this those to under upon when where whether which with within without

Advanced Phrase Searching
Note that you can use the logical AND with proximity and order, n<, where the phrase on either side of n< must appear within n characters of the other (not counting spaces), in the order given in your query. Use nX if order does not matter. Only two phrases can be connected per query. For example:   division 10< zero       Searches for &quot;DIVISION&quot; followed by &quot;ZERO&quot; within 10 characters (not counting spaces).

END 20< block          Searches for &quot;END&quot; followed by &quot;BLOCK&quot; within 20 characters (not counting spaces).

&quot;Division by zero&quot; 1000X error   Searches for &quot;DIVISION @@ ZERO&quot; with ERROR anywhere within 1000 characters.

Additional query words: browse browser.exe noisewords kbquery

Keywords: KB66993

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