Phrase search
In computer science, phrase searching allows users to retrieve content from information systems that contains a specific order and combination of words defined by the user.
Phrase search is one of many search operators that are standard in search engine technology, along with Boolean operators, truncation and wildcard operators, field code operators, and proximity operators. Search operators are used to refine a search when a simple keyword search provides too many unwanted results.
Although the exact functionality of each search engine is determined by its developers, phrase searching is normally accomplished by wrapping the desired phrase in quotation marks. For example, a search for
red apple may return records that contain the word "apple," ones that contain "red," and ones that contain both words no matter where in the record they appear, whereas a search for "red apple" will only return records that contain the phrase "red apple."Phrase search is one of the more important techniques associated with optimizing the textual content of web pages in such a way that it is likely to be found by someone searching for a certain string of text.