>>> Posting number 71833
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 06:07:02 -0500
From: janet paterson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: LIST: How To Search The PARKINSN List Archives - Part 1 Of 2
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The Search And Ye Shall Find Tutorial
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Introduction
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You don't need a PhD in computer science to use the a LISTSERV
archive database; au contraire, it's a pity not to take advantage
of it. The new software is easier than ever to use, too!
In the next sections, you will find some sample searches of the
Opera-L archive. Find one that suits your need and copy & paste
it into your mail program. Then edit it for your specific search,
send, and voila! You can use your prowess to search any archive
on any LISTSERV: just substitute our listname PARKINSN for OPERA-L
and change the LISTSERV address, of course.
A few basics to keep in mind
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1. The examples following illustrate how to search a LISTSERV archive
by e-mail using the SEARCH command and how to request messages of
interest from the listserver computer with the GETPOST command.
2. Make certain your search command is a on a single line in
a new message with no subject header. The subject header is ignored in
by LISTSERV; if your e-mail program requires that you have one, you
can type in a single character like "/".
3. Send all search command messages to:
[log in to unmask]
4. Capitalization generally does not matter. In the examples, the
words of the search language are shown in upper case for clarity
only: lowercase works just as well.
5. A more detailed document (not without its own problems) explaining
the more advanced searching features, is available directly from the
listserver computer. To request it, send this command message:
GET LISTDB MEMO
5. If you do trial searches to gain familiarity with the search
commands and the results which they produce, you can help keep your
LISTSERV system running smoothly (especially for archives of high-volume
lists) by limiting the time period so that only a small portion of the
archive is searched.
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Search Examples Summary
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1. SEARCH word IN PARKINSN
2. SEARCH word IN PARKINSN FROM date1 TO date2
3. SEARCH word IN PARKINSN SINCE date
4. SEARCH word IN PARKINSN UNTIL date
5. SEARCH word IN PARKINSN SINCE TODAY-numberofdays
SEARCH * IN PARKINSN WHERE SUBJECT CONTAINS word
SEARCH word IN PARKINSN WHERE SENDER CONTAINS name
SEARCH word IN PARKINSN WHERE SENDER DOES NOT CONTAIN name
SEARCH * IN PARKINSN SINCE date WHERE SENDER CONTAINS name
SEARCH * IN PARKINSN SINCE date WHERE SUBJECT CONTAINS word
// SEARCH * IN PARKINSN FROM date1 TO date2 WHERE ,
SUBJECT CONTAINS word AND SENDER CONTAINS name
* = "everything"
word = search criterion word or part word
name = sender name or part name
date = search date
date1 = first date in search range
date2 = last date in search range
Note that when you have both a WHERE expression and a TIME frame,
the TIME expression goes before the WHERE expression.
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Search Examples Detailed
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1. SEARCH domingo IN PARKINSN
This is the basic form of the search command. Changes in the
capitalization of any of the words in this example will not affect
the results. Note that there are no quotation marks. No dates are
specified, so the entire archive is searched. Each post is searched
in its entirety, including the sender, subject line and message.
SEARCH tosca price IN PARKINSN
or
SEARCH tosca NEAR price IN PARKINSN
Searches for all posts that contain "tosca" in the post near "price".
NEAR is the "default operator", thus the two examples above give
identical results. [The manual, LISTDB MEMO, incorrectly states
that the default operator is AND, when it is in fact NEAR: the two
examples above are identical.] For a NEAR search to consider a post
to be a match, there must be five or fewer intervening words and the
two words can be more than one line distant (the order of the two
words, however, is not important). Matches for this example would
include cases like "priced", "caprices" and "Toscanini" - the "keyword
in context" in the search results should help you decide which posts
might be of interest. Note that there are no quote marks. Since no
dates are specified in this search, all posts in the archive are
searched.
SEARCH tosca AND price IN PARKINSN
The AND operator must be used if you want posts that have the two
words anywhere in the post.
SEARCH boehm OR bohm OR bo"hm IN PARKINSN
Searches for all posts with any of these spellings. The OR operator
is used when any of your criteria will do. If you mistakenly use AND
in this search, it will probably come back with no matches, since no
single post will have all the variants.
2. SEARCH "White" IN PARKINSN FROM jan 96 TO dec 96
or
SEARCH "White" IN PARKINSN FROM 96 TO 96
Assume you're looking for a name, White, Whiteman, Whiteside, or
something similar that you can't quite remember, in all of 1996. The
double quote marks means you want an exact match in capitalization.
The 131 matches is more manageable than the 487 matches for the same
search without quotes (only the first 100 are returned; change the
time frame to see others).
FROM...TO is always used as a pair, with two dates.
Time frame includes all of January and all of December.
3. SEARCH 'light baritone' IN PARKINSN SINCE jan 97
The quote marks mean you want these words to be adjacent in the post.
Note that single quote marks ensure a wide search net, catching both
"Light baritone" and "light baritones".
But a search without the quotes might be better here, as this example
misses a post that contains "light-timbred baritones".
A SINCE expression takes one date.
The search will begin with 1 Jan 97 and end with the latest archived post.
SEARCH light NEAR bariton IN PARKINSN SINCE jan 97
or
SEARCH light bariton IN PARKINSN SINCE jan 97
Probably a better way of handling the previous search.
The two forms are identical, since NEAR is the default operator in a
search for separate words.
Dropping the "e" in "baritone" caught one post that had "light" near
the adjective "baritonal".
In general use the root or base form of a word: ticket will find ticket,
tickets, ticketing, etc.
Take into account common misspellings and variants, e.g. traveling or
travelling; center or centre.
4. SEARCH 'opera news' IN PARKINSN UNTIL feb 96
Finds all posts containing the string "opera news" from the earliest
archived post through Feb. 1996.
Only the first 100 matches (of over 200 in this time frame) are returned.
Search again with a FROM... TO... expression to list those after
the first 100.
An UNTIL expression takes one date.
5. SEARCH 'opera news' IN PARKINSN SINCE TODAY-15
Finds all posts containing the string "opera news" in the last 15 days:
the archive is searched forward, not backward, in time. There can be
no spaces on either side of the minus sign. The single quotes ensure
that the two words are adjacent yet will find any combination of
capitalization: Opera News, opera news, OPERA NEWS, etc.
SEARCH 'ashoka''s dream' IN PARKINSN
If you need an apostrophe inside single quotes, you must double the
single-quote mark(s). Note that before the 's' there are two
apostrophes. BTW, SEARCH ashoka IN opera-l would really be sufficient
for the search in this case. Double quotes inside double quotes must
also be doubled. Single quote mark(s) inside double quotes (and vice
versa) should not be doubled. Got that?
SEARCH * IN PARKINSN SINCE jan 97 WHERE SENDER CONTAINS rkosovsk
Finds all posts that Bob Kosovsky sent since January 1, 1997. The
asterisk (*) is used to represent "everything". N.B. the SENDER is
the e-mail address of the sender only and does not include the "name"
portion that you usually also see in the FROM line.
If you need the current e-mail address of someone, you can use the
SCAN command with all or part of the name. For example:
SCAN PARKINSN pete
returned a list of 21 names containing the substring "pete" along
with their e-mail addresses. Note: some lists cannot be scanned; this
decision rests with the listowner.
SEARCH arabella IN PARKINSN WHERE SENDER CONTAINS jared
Searches for all of Jared's posts containing "arabella". (I've posted
from more than one address, which is why I did not use my full,
current mailing address.)
SEARCH arabella IN PARKINSN WHERE SENDER DOES NOT CONTAIN jared
All posts containing "arabella" except for Jared's. Only the first
100 posts are listed. Search with a FROM... TO... date expression
to list more.
SEARCH * IN PARKINSN UNTIL may 96 WHERE SUBJECT CONTAINS tosca
Finds all posts from the earliest through May 96 where the subject
line contains "tosca". Note that * is needed to represent "everything".
While there are some 180 posts meeting this criteria, only the first
100 are returned (use a FROM...TO expression to list the others). Note
that UNTIL may 96 is the same as UNTIL 31 may 96. UNTIL or SINCE with
a month name and no day always includes the whole month in the search.
SEARCH * IN PARKINSN WHERE SUBJECT CONTAINS (tosca OR butterfly)
Finds all posts with either word in the subject line. Note that multiple
words in the CONTAINS expression must be placed inside parentheses. This
CONTAINS expression is equivalent to: ...WHERE SUBJECT CONTAINS tosca
OR SUBJECT CONTAINS butterfly
SEARCH manon BUT NOT 'manon lescaut' IN PARKINSN
BUT NOT is the same as AND NOT. It is perhaps easier to understand.
There are 380 posts compared to the 653 for a search of manon alone
(only the first 100 are returned). Beware, however, that there is a
price to pay with this technique: you will not catch posts that
mention both operas!
// SEARCH * in PARKINSN SINCE mar 97 WHERE SUBJECT CONTAINS tosca and ,
sender IS [log in to unmask]
Finds all posts from [log in to unmask] with tosca in the subject line
from March 1, 97 to the present. The IS means that you want an exact
match; CONTAINS will generally suffice (see example above).
This search command may well be longer than the line width setting of
your E-mail program, but LISTSERV requires it be on "one line".
The solution is to start long commands with // SEARCH (note the
obligatory space after the double slash) and end each but the last line
with a space and a comma. This ensures that all the text is interpreted
as one line.
SEARCH tosca IN PARKINSN.100-210
SEARCH tosca IN PARKINSN.1-20000
SEARCH tosca IN PARKINSN.20000-
This form of SEARCH is useful when you want to search a range of posts
by their item # (which you might have, for example, from the results
of a previous search). The first example searches post #100 through
#210; the second searches from #1 to #20000; and the third from
#20000 to the most recent post.
The best way to learn is to experiment
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Even when you make a mistake, the error message that LISTSERV sends
back explains where you went wrong. For more complex searches and
other advanced search features, see the above-mentioned file
LISTDB MEMO available from LISTSERV.
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Continued In Part Two ...
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Adapted From
The Tutorial Of The Same Name
By Jared Weinberger
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janet paterson
52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
a new voice: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/
613 256 8340 PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario Canada K0A 1A0
