Proximity Operators for Full-Text Searching

Proximity operators are an important tool for focusing the results of free text searches, particularly in full-text databases.  Sadly, there is little uniformity in the syntax for proximity searching across various database families.  The chart below, created by DHC Head Bob Scott, provides a key to some of the databases found on the Columbia Libraries website.  The first column indicates the publisher name and then a few of the resources from that publisher.  The next column indicates the syntax for a search of records where the search terms occur within the indicated number of words in either order, and the third column provides the syntax when searching for words, where the second word must follow the first word.

DATABASE PROVIDER ANY DIRECTION DIRECT ORDER
ACLS Humanities eBook proximity search screen proximity search screen
ALEXANDER STREET (American Film Scripts, Early Encounters, Women and Social Movements, etc. menu choices on advanced search screen  
CAMBRIDGE (Collections, Histories, Journals) "galileo inquisition"~10  
CHADWYCK HEALY (PAO, LION, EEBO, Gerritsen, Patrologia Latina, etc.) galileo NEAR.10 inquisition galileo FBY.10 inquisition
CSA (Sociological Abstracts, ERIC, etc.) galileo WITHIN 10 inquisition  
EBRARY galileo WITHIN-10 inquisition  
EBSCO galileo N10 inquisition galileo W10 inquisition
FACTIVA galileo near10 inquisition galileo w/10 inquisition
FIND ARTICLES "galileo inquisition"~10  
FIRST SEARCH (WorldCat) galileo n10 inquisition galileo w/10 inquisition
GALE (ECCO, Making of the Modern World, 19th Century American Newspapers, etc.) galileo N10 inquisition galileo W10 inquisition
GOOGLE galileo AROUND(10) inquisition  
JSTOR "galileo inquisition"~10 (or from menu)  
LEXISNEXIS galileo W/10 inquisition (or from menu)  
NETLIBRARY NEAR (=terms in same sentence)  
OVID (Medline, Psycinfo, etc.) galileo ADJ10 inquisition  
OXFORD (Oxford Scholarship Online, Oxford Reference Online, DNB, ANB) NONE  
PAST MASTERS NONE  
PROJECT MUSE NONE  
PROQUEST (ProQuestDirect, Digital Dissertations, Historical Newspapers, APS, etc.) galileo W/10 inquisition (or from menu) galileo PRE/10 inquisition
SAGE FULL-TEXT NONE  
WILSON (Readers Guide Full Text, Humanities Full Text, Omnifile Full Text Mega, etc.) galileo<NEAR/10>inquisition  

For more information about proximity searching in online databases, and for information on which databases allow you to nest and use truncation, please see: Proximity Operators.

Questions?  Stop by or call (212-854-2241) the reference desk Sunday-Friday 1-5 pm.  Or Ask a Librarian.

2 thoughts on “Proximity Operators for Full-Text Searching

  1. Could someone add Literature Online (LION) to the Proximity operators table. Thanks. John T

    Here is a lengthy version of the info:

    LION allows you to use the following Proximity Operators: near and fby

    near
    To search for terms occurring in any order, and with no more than a specified number of words in between them, use the operator near, followed by a period, and then by the number of words you would like to allow in between. For example:

    Keyword(s) in Work: sublime near.4 dreadful

    Would retrieve all texts in which the words “sublime” and “dreadful” occur within four words of one another, such as:

    For what was dreadful once is now sublime

    fby
    To search for terms occurring in the specific order in which you typed them, and with no more than a specified number of words in between them, use the operator fby, followed by a period, and then by the number of words you would like to allow in between. For example:

    Keyword(s) in Work: sublime fby.2 dreadful

    Would retrieve all texts in which the words “sublime” is followed by the word “dreadful” with no more than two words occurring between them, such as:

    Sublime and dreadful on his regal throne

  2. The list is organized by database platform, so LION is under “Chadwyck-Healy.” We were trying to keep the list from getting too long, but you’re right; a list organized by database title would be more useful. Thanks for the suggestion.

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