Field operators
are operators that represent metadata fields. Using field operators
tells the search engine to retrieve documents where the value
of the metadata field is equal to the value given in the field
operator expression. Searches with field operators are useful
when you know the values of descriptive data (metadata) such as
titles, sponsors, and dates.
Range
is used to specify the set of all values a query should return.
A date range
is the set of all dates from the first date in the expression
to the last date in the expression. A number
range is the set of all whole numbers from the first number
in the expression to the last number in the expression.
Procedure
The
procedure for designing and executing a search query with field
operators is as follows:
Step 1. Decide what metadata elements
you want to search for in your query, along with the exact value
of the metadata field.
Step 2. Enter the field operator name
immediately followed by a colon and then enter the field value
or an expression that evaluates to a value.
Step 3. Click on the Search
button to execute your search and return a Search Results page.
When using field operators, you must
observe the following rules:
The field
must be a valid field name or a Field Error will be reported. The values
entered for metadata values must match the format in which
they are being stored. There must
be no spaces on either side of the ":" for the field
to be considered as a field restriction.
Examples
The table below shows several examples of using field operators.
In the examples, the field operators are displayed in blue.
Query
(Words and Operators) |
Retrieves |
Notes |
title:hearing |
Documents
where the word "hearing" occurs in the title
of the document |
|
title:environment
and
member:mikulski |
Documents
with the word "environment" in the title and
"mikulski" in the member field |
|
title:(hearing
or
meeting) |
Documents
with either "hearing" or "meeting"
in the title field |
|
title:chesapeake
bay |
Documents
with the word "chesapeake" in the metadata title
field and the word "bay" in the document |
|
title:"chesapeake
bay" |
Documents
with the phrase "chesapeake bay" in the metadata
title field |
|
title:(chesapeake
bay) |
Documents
with both the word "chesapeake" and the word
"bay" in the metadata title field, but not necessarily
in order |
|
title:chesapeake
and
title:bay |
Documents
with both the word "chesapeake" and the word
"bay" in the metadata title field, but not necessarily
in order |
|
title:chesapeake
title:bay |
Documents
with both the word "chesapeake" and the word
"bay" in the metadata title field, but not necessarily
in order |
|
congress:range(100,105) |
Documents
for all congresses with numbers 100 up to and including
105 |
|
publishdate:range(2006-01-01,2006-07-01) |
Documents
with an issue date from January 1, 2006 through
July 1, 2006 |
|
publishdate:range(2006,2006) |
Documents
with an issue date from Jan 1, 2006 through December 31,
2006 |
|
congress:range(,105) |
Documents
with all congresses up to and including the 105th |
|
publishdate:range(2006-01-01,) |
Documents
with all issue dates after and including 2006-01-01 |
|
The table below lists commonly used field operators that apply
to all or most of the collections. For more information about
the field operators available for each collection, select the
Metadata Fields and Values links below.
Metadata
Field Display Name |
Field
Operator |
Field
Operator Examples |
Collection |
collection: |
collection:chrg |
Government
Author |
governmentauthor: |
governmentauthor:house |
Publication
Date |
publishdate: |
publishdate:2006-09-30 |
SuDoc
Class Number |
sudocclass: |
sudocclass:"y
4.c 73/8:" |
Ingestion
Date |
ingestdate: |
ingestdate:2008-12-29 |
Publisher |
publisher: |
publisher:"u.s.
government printing office"
publisher:"national archives and records administration" |
Branch |
branch: |
branch:legislative |
Title |
title: |
title:(railroad
safety) |
Congress
Number |
congress: |
congress:109 |
Congress
Member |
member: |
member:mcconnell |
President |
president: |
president:clinton |
Citation |
citation: |
citation:"h.r.
1"
citation:"Public Law 105-264" |
Reference
Citation |
refcitation: |
refcitation:"h.r.
1"
refcitation:"Public Law 105-264" |
Electronic
Location (URL) |
url: |
url:"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr1071IH/pdf/BILLS-111hr1071IH.pdf"
url:BILLS-111hr1071IH |
Package
ID |
packageid: |
packageid:FR-2009-03-31
packageid:LSA-2009-03 |
Granule
ID |
granuleid: |
granuleid:E9-7073
granuleid:LSA-2009-03-title30 |
Metadata Fields and Values by Collection
For more information on field operators
available for each collection, visit the Metadata Fields and Values
page for each collection.
|
|
