Search Fixed? Extended Search Options

[arn]

So with the move to a new search engine. There are more options that we have access to. I know search has been a big complaint amongst macrumors regulars.

When you search there are two new options:

"Regular"
"Extended (Beta)"

when you choose Advanced searches.

"Regular" means "match all". all terms are AND'd together.
Example: MacBook Pro should return results with both "MacBook" and "Pro"

"Extended" is documented here but unfortunately some of the features don't seem to be working.

The most useful would be "phrase" matching, where "MacBook Pro" (with quotes) would only match that exact phrase ("I like my MacBook Pro") but not separate words ("My MacBook makes me feel like a Pro"). Phrase searching seems to be broken. It may be a side effect of vbulletin processing the quotes. I'll have to look into it.

NOT and OR options seem to work as best as I can tell.

NOT:
MacBook -Pro only matches posts that have the word MacBook, and does not have the word "Pro"

OR
Blue | Brown uses the | operand which means OR. This means that searches if either match.

AND
Blue Brown defaults to AND.

you can also apparently group them with ()'s.

(iPhone Yellow) | Colorware - gives you posts that have the word iPhone and Yellow or Colorware.

Note: some of the word hilighting doesn't work properly and there's some other oddities with the Extended version, which is why it's optional and termed "beta".

arn

 

[WildCowboy]

Thanks arn...haven't had a chance to put the new search through it's paces, but it's definitely something a lot of people have been clamoring for.

Is the Google search option gone for good? Hopefully it won't be needed with an upgraded built-in engine, but it works very well for some searches.

 

[arn]

Is the Google search option gone for good? Hopefully it won't be needed with an upgraded built-in engine, but it works very well for some searches.

we can bring it back. I just was in a rush to get the new system tested/setup so didn't spend the time on putting the google search back in.

arn

 

[mad jew]

With the old setup I'd run a search each time I logged on that monitored certain forums. It would pull out all the threads that had less than N posts and helped me find unanswered questions. I used it mainly for the troubleshooting forums. The new setup doesn't seem to have this ability. Have I missed it? If not, would it be okay to get it (post count parameter) reinstated?

 

[arn]

With the old setup I'd run a search each time I logged on that monitored certain forums. It would pull out all the threads that had less than N posts and helped me find unanswered questions. I used it mainly for the troubleshooting forums. The new setup doesn't seem to have this ability. Have I missed it? If not, would it be okay to get it (post count parameter) reinstated?

hmm... let me look into it.

arn

 

[arn]

Mad jew,

Can you describe exactly how you use it?

No search term
Set number of replies
Choose Subforum

that right?

arn

 

[arn]

With the old setup I'd run a search each time I logged on that monitored certain forums. It would pull out all the threads that had less than N posts and helped me find unanswered questions. I used it mainly for the troubleshooting forums. The new setup doesn't seem to have this ability. Have I missed it? If not, would it be okay to get it (post count parameter) reinstated?

I've put it back, but it only works if you don't specify a keyword. So if you to search for all threads in Mac Basics with less than 2 replies, that's fine.

If you need to find threads in Mac Basics with less than 2 replies AND has the word "iPhone" in it, it won't work.

arn

 

[mad jew]

Mad jew,

Can you describe exactly how you use it?

No search term
Set number of replies
Choose Subforum

that right?

arn

Yep, that's exactly right. Thanks for getting it back up and running. It seems to be working properly and quickly.

 

[bigandy]

oooh, phrase searching at last.

thanks arn

 

[smueboy]

Mad jew,

Can you describe exactly how you use it?

No search term
Set number of replies
Choose Subforum

that right?

arn

So that's how it's done.
I have this bookmarked: https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?do=process&replyless=1&replylimit=0
(I forget where i got it, but i works! Better to be able to choose a sub-forum though)

 

[Milan]

Phrase searching seems to work if you put backlashes in front of the quotes but the search term highlighting in the resulting threads is broken then. You have to user the browser's search function to quickly locate the search terms on the page.

 

[Delysid]

Phrase searching seems to work if you put backlashes in front of the quotes but the search term highlighting in the resulting threads is broken then. You have to user the browser's search function to quickly locate the search terms on the page.

Not for me. I tried putting backslashes \ and regular slashes / in front of the quotes but it still didn't do a phrase search, instead finding threads in which any of the search terms appeared.