9

876 Appendix A: Using the Online Reference
To see where the curr ent topic fits in the information
hiera rchy (contents):
•PressAlt+C .
TheContentspanedisplays,withthecurrent
topic highlighted.
Searching for Help Topics
A basic search consists of the word or phrase you
want to find. You can use Boolean, wildcard, and
nested expressions. You can a lso limit the search
to previous results, match similar words, or search
topic titles only to further define your search.
The basic rules for formulating queries are as
follows:
• Searches are not case-sensitive, so you can
type your search in uppercase or lowercase
characters.
• You may search for an y combination of letters
(athroughz)andnumbers(0through9).
• Punctu ation marks such as the period, colon,
semicolon, comma, and hyphen are ignored
during a search.
• Group the elements of your search using double
quotes (page 3–xii) or parentheses (page 3–xii)
to set apart each element. You can not search
for quotation marks.
Note: If you are searching for a file name with an
extension, you should group the entire string
in double quotes, ("filename.ext"). Otherwise,
theperiodwillbreakthefilenameintotwo
separate terms. The default operation between
terms is AND, so you will create the logical
equivalent to "filename AND ext."
Searching for Words or Phrases: Using
Wi ldcar ds
You can search for words or phrases and use
wildcard expressions. Wildcard expressions allow
you to search for one or more characters using
aquestionmarkorasterisk. Thetablebelow
describes the results of these different kinds of
searches.
Search for Example Results
A single word select Topics that contain the
word "selec t." (You w ill
also find its grammatical
variations, such as
"selector" and "selection.")
Aphrase
"new
operator" or
new operator
Topics that contain
the literal phrase
"new operator" and
all its grammatical
variations.Without the
quotation marks, the
query is equivalent to
specifying "new AND
operator," which will find
topics containing both
of the individual words,
instead of the phrase.
Wildcard
expressions
esc* or 80?86
Topics that contain the
terms "ESC," "escape,"
"escalation," a nd so on.
The asterisk cannot be
the only character in the
term.Topics that contain
the terms "80186," "80286,"
"80386," and so on. The
question m ark canno t be
the only character in the
term.
Turn on Match Similar Words to include minor
grammatical variations for the phrase you search.
Defining S ear ch Terms: Using B oolea n
Expressions
The AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR operators
enable you to precisely define your search by
creating a relationship between search terms. The
following table shows how you can use each of
these operators. If no operator is sp ecified, AND
is used. For example, the query "spacing b order