Please could the search engine parse out very very common words like "The" unless in quotes, or something? I was searching for a node ("the flip flop operator") and got a page with 12 million results on it because I included "the" in my search.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Very Common Words in Searching
by mpolo (Chaplain) on Aug 21, 2001 at 20:11 UTC
    The plain old search at the top of the page works best for simply finding nodes for which you know the title -- and for those types of searches, the "the"'s can be crucial.

    Serious searchers use Super Search (which can be easily found by typing "Super Search" into the search box...)

      The plain old search at the top of the page is the one that I was using. Try this: search for "the flip flop operator", without quotes. Now search for "flip flop operator". See which one has 5 squillion results, and which one doesn't? That's why I was asking for common words (like "the") to be ignored when not in quotes.

      Now, I must have been smoking some good crack or something, because I've just tried it, and unless something's changed in the meantime, this is pretty much what happens when you quote "the flip flop operator" (with quotes). Hmm. Where's my pipe.

Re: Very Common Words in Searching
by agent00013 (Pilgrim) on Aug 21, 2001 at 19:26 UTC
    I suggest using Google and you won't have that problem. It ignores all of the common words such as you mention. There's been mention of other search engines with similar power, but I still think Google is the king of the pack. Try it out.

    Update: Ok, I'm still not sure if this question is referring to the PerlMonks site or a real search engine. Based on the fact the PerlMonks doesn't have more than 100k nodes, he must be referring to a real search engine (12 million results). If by some chance the question is referring to PerlMonks, take mpolo's advice and user Super Search, or simply just leave common words such as "The", "a", "and", etc out of your search request.

    Love is random; fear is inevitable. -- Orson Scott Card
    PerlMonks is good for Perl, but JavaJunkies is good for Java