What Is a Boolean Operator in a Computer System?
Boolean operators classify the relationship between words or phrases. They are used when trying to streamline a computer search. Here are some of the more commonly used operators.
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AND
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The "AND" operator means that you want the results to fall in both categories. So if you do a computer search for "dogs AND terriers" the result will return only those dog breeds that are also terriers.
OR
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The "OR" operator means that you will take results that fall into either category. A computer search of "hotels in san diego OR hotels in san francisco" will return all hotels that are located in either city.
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NOT
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The "NOT" operator is used when you want to eliminate certain criteria from your results. For example, if you are looking for airlines other than Northwest you may search for "airlines NOT northwest" and get a result of all airlines that are not Northwest.
*
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The "*" operator is used when you want a result to include all forms of a root word. If you search "parent*" your results will contain things about parent, parents, parenting and parenthood. The "*" is a placeholder for anything that might come after the root word "parent."
Quotation Marks
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Quotation marks are used when you want an exact phrase. If you search for "Glacier National Park" all results will contain the exact phrase "Glacier National Park" in them. You won't get results for "Glacier Park" because the phrase results need to appear exactly as searched for.
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