Additional Search Help Page


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Search Syntax

This document describes the syntax for entering searches.

Boolean Searches
Wildcard Searches
Searching For Phrases
Fuzzy Searching
Proximity Searches

Boolean Searches
You are allowed the use of the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT to combine the elements in your search.

      Enter:     frivolous and appeal and Anders
      Find:      documents containing the words frivolous, appeal and Anders

      Enter:     frivolous appeal Anders
      Find:      documents containing the words frivolous, appeal and Anders
           This search is identical to the first search.

      Enter:     frivolous or appeal or Anders
      Find:      documents containing either frivolous, appeal or Anders

      Enter:     not frivolous and not Anders
      Find:      documents which do not contain the words frivolous and Anders

      Enter:     frivolous appeal or Anders
      Find:      documents containing frivolous and either appeal or Anders.

      Enter:     frivolous and appeal or Anders
      Find:      documents containing either frivolous and appeal or just Anders.

Wildcard Searches
Searches can include the wildcard symbols * and ?. The * replaces multiple characters (up to 80). The ? replaces a single character.

      Enter:     litigat*
      Find:      litigate, litigation, litigating, ...

      Enter:     *ealth
      Find:      stealth, health, wealth, ...

      Enter:     *-CV
      Find:      case numbers ending with -CV (ie Civil Cases)

      Enter:     J?n
      Find:      Jan, Jon

Searching for Phrases
When you enter two words in a search, the Web Publisher retrieves all documents containing these two words:

      Enter:     John Anderson
      Find:      John Smith v Sam Anderson

To find words directly next to each other, place square brackets [ ] around the phrase.

      Enter:     [John Smith]
      Find:      John Smith v Sam Anderson

Fuzzy Searching
A fuzzy search helps you locate information when you're not sure of the spelling

      Enter:     {fuzzy} Smith
      Find:      Documents containing either Smith, Smythe ....

NOTE: Search commands such as FUZZY must be entered in curly braces { }. This tells the Search Engine that the word FUZZY is a command and not a term in your search.

Proximity Searching
A Proximity Search locates two words or phrases occurring within a specified proximity of one another. This enables you to use the natural elements contained within blocks of normal text (Words, Lines, Sentences and Paragraphs) to tailor your search.

      Enter:     Thomas {vicinity :0P Justice}
      Find:      documents where Justice and Thomas appear in the same paragraph.

The Proximity Search supports the following modifiers
     W - Words
     L - Lines
     S - Sentences
     P - Paragraphs

     B - Before
     A - After
     E - On either side of
     0 (Zero) - In the same Word, Line, Sentence, or Paragraph

You can mix these modifiers to create a variety of searches:
      Enter:     Justice {vicinity :1WB Thomas}
      Find:      documents where Justice appears 1 word before Thomas.

      Enter:     remanded {vicinity :2LA reversed}
      Find:      documents where remanded appears within 2 lines after reversed.

      Enter:     frivolous {vicinity :1SE sanction}
      Find:      documents where frivolous appears 1 sentence either side of sanction.

theclerk @ 5thcoa.courts.state.tx.us
thewebmaster @ courtstuff.com

Note: Correspondence with Webmaster does not constitute communications with the 5th Court of Appeals. If you feel you must contact someone about a case, please refer all of your communications to the Clerk of the Court.

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This page Last Revised: May 12, 2005