Keywords can be searched either manually using the index of keywords or by using the keyword search form. The keyword search form searches the Keywords-field of all database entries for the words entered by the user. Actually this search has already been done each time the database is modified or updated. Therefore it is an index of the keywords associated with particular database entries that is searched. The quickest way to find the database entries associated with a single keyword is to select the keyword from the index of keywords. Using the index of keywords ensures that the keyword you are looking for actually exists. The keyword search engine is most useful for finding correlations among multiple keywords, but you can, of course, use the search form to search for a single keyword. If you search for a non-existant keyword, the search engine will inform you.
About keywords
Keywords are words or phrases that have been specially selected for their relevance to the database entry. They may be personal or geographic names or topics that the entry is concerned with (even though they might not appear in the text of the entry itself). Only nouns and noun phrases are used as keywords. Adjectives may appear as modifiers in phrases. Gentilic adjectives appear as collectives in the plural. Thus Assyrian will not appear as a keyword, but Assyrians will. However, Assyrian may appear in noun phrases such as Assyrian language or Assyrian religion. To determine whether a keyword exists or not, use the index of keywords.
Using the search form
Searching for keywords is done with a literal string. What you search for is what you get. The search engine treats words separated by spaces as alternatives to be searched for. Multiword entries must be enclosed in quotation marks. All searches are case sensitive (God is different from god).
The most effective use of the search form is for finding correlations among multiple keywords. Finding a single keyword is more efficiently done using the index of keywords.
Flagging words
Words can be flagged with "+" or "-" to ensure that a word appears among the entry's keywords or to exclude entries that contain that word among their keywords.
The most effective use of the search form is for finding correlations among multiple keywords. Finding a single keyword is more efficiently done using the index of keywords.
The "+" sign
The "+" sign placed immediately before a word will require that word to be present for a valid match. Obviously, this is effective only when multiple words are being searched for. Thus searching for god or +god will both return the same result. Searching for god Greeks will return all entries that contain either "god" or "Greeks" while searching for god +Greeks will return all entries that contain "Greeks" whether or not "god" is present, and searching for +god +Greeks will return only those entries that contain both "god" and "Greeks" as keywords. The "+" sign may be placed either inside or outside the quotation marks enclosing a multiword string.
The "-" sign
The "-" sign placed immediately before a word will cause any entry that has that word among its keywords to be rejected. It is a waste of time to prefix a "-" sign to a single word search (or to all the words in a search). The search will always return nothing (it will not return all entries that do not contain the word[s]). Searching for god -Greeks will return all entries that contain "god" but do not contain "Greeks" among their keywords. The "-" sign may be placed either inside or outside the quotation marks enclosing a multiword string.
Using quotation marks
Multiword strings must be enclosed in quotation marks or else the search engine will treat them as alternatives to be recognized separately. Searching for Greek god will return all entries that contain either "Greek" or "god" among their keywords (except that "Greek", being an adjective, will not appear as a keyword). Searching for "Greek god" will return only those entries that contain "Greek god" as a keyword.
Multiword strings enclosed in quotation marks can be flagged with the "+" or "-" sign. The flag may come either before or after the opening quotation mark.
Wildcards
"." can be used as a wildcard. This means that searching for gree. with "Match whole words only" turned off will return entries which contain "greek", "greec", greed", etc. in the selected fields. You can use multiple wildcards in a row, but remember that spaces will also count as one character (i.e., gree.. will return "greeks" and "greece", but also "greek " and "greed ").
Index of keywords
The index of keywords contains an alphabetical listing of all the keywords associated with database entries. There is a link from the keyword search form to the index of keywords. Because the number of keywords is large (and will continue to grow as the database expands) the index is initially presented to the user as a closed list. The user can then optionally open an individual letter or open all the letters. Once any or all of the letters have been opened, all the letters can be closed in a single operation.
Opening the index of keywords
The index of keywords can be opened a letter at a time or all letters can be opened at once. The index is initially presented to the user with all letters closed. When a letter is closed, the individual keywords that begin with that letter can not be seen, but a number in parentheses following the letter indicates how many keywords begin with that letter (type count).
Opening all the letters
To open all the letters in one operation, there is a clickable button at the top of the index page. Simply click this button and all the letters will be opened revealing all the keywords. The button looks like this:
Closing all the letters
To close all the letters in one operation, there is a clickable button at the top of the index page. Simply click this button and all the letters will be closed and all the keywords will be hidden. The button looks like this:
Opening or closing individual letters
To open (or close) an individual letter, go the the letter on the page. In front of the letter there will be an arrow pointing to the right () or to the left (). Clicking on this arrow will open the letter if it is closed or close it if it is open. The status of other letters that may be open or closed will not be affected by this.
Using the index of keywords
Once a letter is open, a list of all keywords that begin with that letter will be visible. A number in parentheses following the keyword indicates the number of database entries associated with that keyword (token count). To display a list of the titles of database entries associated with the keyword, simply click on the keyword. To see if a keyword exists or not, the easiest thing to do is to open the letters and then use your browser's 'find' function to search for the keyword. The 'find' function will allow you to search for parts of words (substrings) and to ignore case. Once you find the keyword you can click on it to see a list of the entries associated with it or copy it to the search form for multiple word searches.
Navigating the index of keywords
At the top of the page is a list of the letters that begin keywords. You can go directly to a letter in the index by clicking on the letter in the list. When all letters are open, the index is quite long so helpful links have been provided to make getting around in the index easier.
To the right of each topic you will find two arrows pointing up and down () and a sign saying 'top' (). The upward-pointing arrow () will take you to the previous letter in the index and the downward-pointing arrow () will take you to the next letter in the index. The sign saying 'top' () will take you to the top of the page. The arrows wrap around the index. Clicking on the "next letter" arrow at the letter Z will take you to A and clicking on the "previous letter" arrow at A will take you to Z.
) or to the left (
). Clicking on this arrow will open the letter if it is closed or close it if it is open. The status of other letters that may be open or closed will not be affected by this.
) and a sign saying 'top' (
). The upward-pointing arrow (