Search tips
The Open Government Portal search function supports the use of special words or symbols, called ‘Boolean Operators’, that can be used to expand or narrow your search parameters. Examples are provided below.
| Boolean operator | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Provides results that contain both or all keywords. This can be used when you want your search results to contain two or more specific terms. | Water AND Air |
| OR | Provides results that contain either keyword. Use this when you want results to contain at least one (or not necessarily both) of your chosen keywords. | Water OR Air |
| NOT | Provides results that contain the first keyword but not the second (or others that follow). It is important to put the operator after the first word, as it will exclude the latter keywords. | Water NOT Sea |
| Quotation marks “” | Provides results that include an exact phrase or precise keywords | "Water Quality Objectives" |
| Parentheses () | Allows you to group together search terms and to control the order that they are searched. Keywords included within the parentheses will be searched first, followed by those outside the parentheses. | Quality AND (water OR air) |
| Asterisk * | Provides search results that contain a variation of a keyword. This can be used when you want the search to return results that contain a keyword that is entered or other words that begin with the same letters. Note that the asterisk will only work when it is placed at the end of the word. | Financ* |
Note:, These special words are case sensitive and must be capitalized. Also, search results automatically include some words that are related. For example, the search term
run will return results that include running and runs.