untangling_the_web

DID: 4046925
UNCLASSIFIED""FO~OFFICIAL USE OMLY
However, if I search for [the], Ask returns over 2 billion hits. If I add another search
term, e.g., [the france], that query is identical to searching for [france], so the stop
word is ignored. Nonetheless, it appears that if you search only for stop words, Ask
will find pages containing them all, e.g., [i a an the].
Ask does not seem to like the plus sign (+) because it returns an error message
when I try to use it. By default Ask searches for all keywords except stop words.
However, there are many times when searchers need to exclude certain terms that
are commonly associated with a keyword but irrelevant to their search. That's where
the minus sign (-) comes in. Using the minus sign in front of a keyword ensures that
Ask excludes that term from the search. For example, the results for the search
["pearl harbor" -movie] are very different from the results for ["pearl harbor"].
Ask treats most punctuation marks the same way, as links in a search string. For
example, Ask handles a search for [c-span], [c.span], ["C span"], and [c?span]
basically the same way. However, a search for [cspan] with no space or mark is
treated differently.
Ask Advanced Search
Ask has a number of "query modifiers" to restrict searches and make them more
effective in many cases. These query modifiers can be used in simple search using
the following syntax or on the advanced web search page using the appropriate
menu options. Interestingly, Ask using the "must exclude" minus sign differently from
other search engines: the minus sign goes after the command syntax, for example,
[inurl:nasa site:-gov]
The query modifiers Ask supports are:
~ '$i~~;":r~§!rict§~[~s~Jts:"iQ":w~~§jt~.~:LiIi:a·.]iv~Q~=~Qm§Jn. This syntax requires a
keyword.
Advanced Web Search> Domain or Site
Examples of how to use the site: command:
[shuttle site:www.nasa.gov] finds pages about the space shuttle at the NASA
website.
["bulletin officiel" site:fr] finds pages in the French top-level domain about official
bulletins.
["bulletin officiel" site:-fr] finds pages containing the phrase "bulletin officiel" that
are not in the French top-level domain. Note that the minus sign goes after the
site: syntax.
166 UNCLASSIFIEDHFQR QFFISIAL l:ISi QNLY