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Advanced Search Operators Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

A cheat sheet for search operators used in Google searches and academic database searches.

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

General Operators

OPERATOR
USE
EXAMPLE
“ "
Exact phrase as written
“peanut butter­"
AND
Results containing both terms
peanut AND butter
OR
Results with either term
peanut OR butter
( )
Group for clarity
(peanut butter AND jelly) OR pbj
These search operators can be used anywhere.

Search Engine Operators (Google)

OPERATOR
USE
-
Exclude from results
site:
Searches a specific site or domain.
filetype:
Finds only specified file types.
..
Searches for a number in a range of numbers
$
Search for prices
@
Search for results on social media.
in
Conver­sions
*
Wildcard for unknowns
These are specif­ically for search engines.
  

Academic Database Operators

OPERATOR
USE
NOT
Excludes terms
*
Trunca­tion: finds articles with various versions of the term.
?
Wildcard
AB
Searches only in the abstract
PT
Searches public­ation type.
NEAR/#
Find articles where terms are found no farther than the listed number of words apart.
Search operators only for academic databases.