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Command Search

• Combine search terms
• Focus or expand your search
• Field codes
• Field codes for Index New Zealand

Command Search can be used for simple searches, but it is particularly useful for experienced searchers who wish to do complex searches using Boolean operators (and, or, not) and field codes.

Results display alphabetically by title. See Titles List help.

Combine search terms

To combine several search terms use the Boolean operators (and, or, not):

• Use and to narrow your search by combining multiple terms, eg: health and maori

• Use or to broaden your search with alternative terms, eg: health or medical

• Use not to exclude a term from your search, eg: health not maori

Focus or expand your search

For effective searching, use special characters to focus or expand your search:

• Use ? after a term to truncate, eg: child? will retrieve child, childhood, children…

• Use quotation marks for phrases, eg: "yellow eyed penguin"

• Use brackets around or statements if you are also using and or not in the same search, eg: (internet or web) and (writing or publishing)

Field codes

You can use field codes to restrict your search to a particular field in a record, such as title. The following table includes commonly used field codes:

Examples:

• To find books on Polynesian navigation published in the 1990s:
  skey polynesia? and skey navigation and 260c 199?

• To find proceedings of a fluid dynamics conferences held in Kyoto or Tokyo:
  conf "fluid dynamics" and (conf tokyo or conf kyoto)

Field codes for Index New Zealand

The following table includes commonly used field codes for Index New Zealand:

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