Frequently Used Search Operators and Search Fields in Factiva
Note that unlike Google, Factiva automatically groups phrases.
| and | All the words or phrases you enter. technology spending and Canada |
| or | One or more of the words or phrases you enter. merger or acquisition |
| not | Exclude items that contain these words. software not spreadsheets |
| same | Two words in the same paragraph. vodafone same telecommunications |
| atleastn | Words mentioned more than once. atleast5 microsoft atleast2 berkeley |
| () | Group words together. press releases and (university or instruction or courses) |
| * | Words with multiple endings of any length. Example: insur* retrieves insurance, insurable, insured, and insurer |
| ? | Single wildcard character. Example: globali?ation retrieves both globalization and globalisation |
| w/n | Words adjacent to each other in the SPECIFIED order, within a certain number. Example: president w/3 bush retrieves both President Bush, President George Bush, and President George W. Bush |
| nearn | Words near each other in ANY order, within a certain number. Example: carrefour near4 sales retrieves both Carrefour reported net sales and retail sales posted by Carrefour |
| by= | Searches for words in the "author's name" (byline) field. Example: by=(michael near2 pollan) retrieves articles where the author is indexed as michael pollan or pollan, michael |
| hd= | Searches for words in the article's headline. |
| hlp= | for words in the article's headline and two lead paragraphs. |
| wc> wc< |
Searches for the number of words in the article. Example: clear channel and wc>2000 retrieves only major articles over 2,000 words long. |