Software Overview:

---

Bar-Ilan's Responsa

---

Formulating Search Requests

• Grammatical Variants
• Alternative Forms
• Negating Search Components
• Specifying Distances between Words
• Words in Varying Order
• Expressions Within a Single Sentence, Paragraph, or Document
• Easy [vs. Regular] Searches
• Tips on Formulating Requests

Grammatical Variants

One of the difficulties with simply entering a phrase into Bar-Ilan's search engine is that you risk missing important instances due to grammatical variation. Searching for , for example, will not locate , and searching for will not find . At the same time, if you use all the wildcard options at your disposal, you are bound to generate a host of irrelevant forms. Formulating a precise query is an art, and it will come with experience. (One practical measure will be discussed in filtering out unwanted search results.)

• To specify grammatical prefixes, type a number sign before the relevant word(s). This will find forms such as , , , but not .
  
  
• To specify grammatical suffixes, type a number sign after the relevant word(s). This will find forms such as , , , etc.
  
  
• To specify all prefixes, type an asterix before the word(s). This will find and , as well as , , etc.
  
  
• To specify all suffixes, type an asterix afterward. This would identify various spellings of , such as , , and so forth.
  
  
• To find all forms derived from a given root, including forms with grammatical prefices and suffixes, type a percent sign before the word(s).
  
  Notes:
  • You may specify "nouns" as a root using this option.
  • You may specify forms with more than four letters as roots.
  • This option retrieves both Hebrew and Aramaic words.
  • A wide variety of forms will be retrieved with this option; use it carefully.
  
  
• To locate all forms derived from a particular dictionary entry, or lemma, place a dollar sign before the relevant word(s). N.B. While a number of words may stem from a particular lemma, different lemmas can be associated with a common root. This means that all forms located by the "lemma" option will be located by using "root," while "root" may well include more items than "lemma."
  When should you use one over the other? To be honest, it's difficult to say. A general rule of thumb is that if you find too many entries using "root," try the "lemma" option; conversely, if "lemma" gives you too few, you might see what you can find with "root."
  
  
• To find both plene [the complete or full spelling of a word] and defective spellings of a particular word, such as and , and , and , etc., type an exclamation point before the word, and spell it with its fullest possible spelling.

In sum:


grammatical prefixes	# (before)
grammatical suffixes	# (after)
all prefixes	* (before)
all suffixes	* (after)
all forms derived from root	% (before)
all forms derived from lemma	$ (before)
plene and defective spelling	! (before); fullest possible spelling

Return to Formulating Search Requests


Alternative Forms

At some point, you may wish to include alternative forms in your query, searching either for one word or another. To do so, type a slash (/ , not \) between the words. For example, to find all examples where Moses, Aaron, David, or Solomon are mentioned in a database, type

(/ / / )

The same may be done incorporating grammatical variants. To find all occurrences of with grammatical prefixes, as well as with grammatical suffixes, type

(#/ #)

In the same vein, if you are looking for alternative forms that have identical prefixes/suffixes/etc., simply enter the code for the grammatical variant outside of the parentheses that contain those forms. In other words, to find , , , or , , , type

*(/ )#

You may specify a series of words, each of which have alternative forms. (/ ) (/ ), for example, would find verses where Moses or Aaron spoke () or said () something.

You cannot, however, include a phrase as one component of the alternative forms. Should you wish to locate both and , you cannot simply type (/ ). Instead, you must either perform two seperate searches or work with previous search results.

Return to Formulating Search Requests


Negating Search Components

If you want to make sure a certain word form is not retrieved, type a minus sign immediately before that word. You could locate all phrases beginning with the word save for and , for example, by entering

(/ )-

Return to Formulating Search Requests


Specifying Distances between Words

To specify the distance between words for which you're searching, you'll need to enter the relative positions of the words, separating them by a colon and enclosing them in brackets. [3:1], in other words, indicates that you're looking for one form where it occurs up to 3 words after another. To illustrate:

If we were to search either for , , or , where the latter word may occur up to three words after the former, we would type:

[3:1]

This works equally well when working with grammatical prefixes, suffixes, and so forth. To find , then, one would simply enter

# [3:1] ##

Return to Formulating Search Requests

Continue with the QuickGuide

---

Last Updated: 4/29/96
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/help-services/QuickGuides/bar-ilan/about-barilan4a.html
Comments: Library Electronic Texts Resource Service / LETRS@indiana.edu.
Indiana University

---