Boolean and Proximity Operators
The basic Boolean operators AND, OR & NOT may be used in the database. More than one Boolean may be used in the same search string; Knovel executes OR first, followed by NOT and AND.
Proximity operators recognized by Knovel are double quotes(“”), parenthesis (), and an adjacency operator (signified by a space between words):
- “ ” (double quotes) – denotes a phrase search. In other words, it requires the keywords to be found next to each other in the specified order. Example string: “solar reactor”
- Parentheses ( ) – forces execution of keywords and/or operators within the parenthesis. Example string: zinc OR (solar AND reactor)
- A space between keywords (NEAR) – matches keywords within 5 to 10 words in any direction. To use, do not use the term NEAR or double quotes, rather use terms next to one another. Example string: solar reactor
