Search HELP

Search Operators

The search engine recognizes the following operators between search terms:

TERM	EXPLANATION
AND	each term must be included
OR	either, but not necessarily both terms must be included
NOT	the term cannot be included
( )	parenthesis: group terms to force the order of processing
" "	quotation marks: searches for a literal string, exactly as typed

The first three are fairly self explanatory, and are dealt with in the examples below. Quotation marks are also straight forward: anything in quotation marks will be searched for as an exact string.

Finally, parenthesis are a very effective tool for grouping your search terms. The careful searcher uses them often to make sure that the search engine performs a search just the way the searcher intends. For example, submitting a search such as this:
contract or waiver and damages
will not give the same results as this search:
damages and contract or waiver
Using parenthesis, however, the following searches will get exactly the same results:
contract or waiver and damages
(contract or waiver) and damages
damages and (contract or waiver)

Search Examples

EXAMPLE	EXPLANATION
contract waiver	search for "contract" and "waiver" in documents
contract and waiver	search for documents that contain "contract" and "waiver"
contract not waiver	search for documents that contain "contract" but not "waiver"
"contract waiver"	search for documents that contain the exact string "contract waiver"
person and judge and (contract or waiver)	must contain "person" and "judge" and either "child" or "abuse".
contract and waiv*	must contain " and strings that start with "waiv"

Using Special Fields in Searches

The N.J. Courts search engine recognizes the following special fields:

SEARCH FIELD	EXPLANATION	EXAMPLE
DC.TITLE	Search for words in the title of the document	(dc.title=budget) and widgets and appropriate
DC.CREATOR	Author of the document. In the case of congressional documents, this would typically be the congressional committee.	(dc.creator="ways and means") and widgets and appropriate
DC.SOURCE	The Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) number.	(dc.source="Y 4.B 85/2:S.hrg.100-1020")
DC.SUBJECT	Library of Congress Subject Headings.	(dc.subject="Savings and loan associations")

REMEMBER: boolean commands (and, or, not) must appear between each search string or the search engine will assume "and".