Working with Search Operators in PeopleSoft Search

In the Global Search bar and the Keyword Search box, PeopleSoft Search Framework supports the use of search operators along with keywords to specify the type of search to be performed, such as a phonetic search, stemming search, fuzzy search, and so on.

Symbol

Usage

Description

*

document*

Use * (asterisk) as a wildcard to search and match on one or more characters.

You can use the * at the beginning of a keyword, at the end of a keyword, or in between a keyword.

Examples:

  • document* — returns search results with words beginning with document, such as documents, documentary, documentation.

  • *ment — returns search results with words ending in ment, such as department, management.

Note: PeopleSoft Search Framework requires a minimum number of characters to perform a search. The normal minimum is at least four characters plus the wildcard character.

Note: In an Elasticsearch-based search, PeopleSoft Search Framework supports using * (asterisk) as a leading character.

Note: You can also use % (percent sign) as a wildcard. In PeopleSoft search, % is treated as a wildcard except when it appears within quotes.

?

Orac?e

Use ? (question mark) as a wildcard to search and match on one character.

You can use multiple ? within a keyword, for example, Or?c?e.

Orac?e returns search results with words such as Oracle.

“ “

“year-end report”

Use “ “ (double quotes) around words that make up a phrase that must be matched exactly. However, because stemming is applied on the search text, search results containing different forms of the word or phrase will be displayed. For example, if your search text is "project manager," all forms of project manag (Elasticsearch uses shorter and generic form of a word) will be displayed. Therefore, your search results could include project management, project manager, project managers, project managing, etc. You may use facets to obtain the desired search results.

&

document & report

Use & (ampersand) to specify that all words must appear in the results.

|

“year-end report” | statement

Use | (pipe) to search on any of the words or phrase.

!

!john

Use ! (exclamation mark) as a prefix to indicate that phonetic search is to be performed.

Phonetic search returns results that have a similar sound.

!john returns search results containing names, such as John, Jon, Juan.

$

$install

Use the $ character as a prefix to indicate that stemming search is to be performed. Stemming search returns search results that match the root of a keyword.

$install returns search results containing words, such as install, installing, installed.

Note: Elasticsearch supports dictionary and algorithmic stemming, however in the current Elasticsearch integration with PeopleSoft Search Framework, only algorithmic stemming is supported.

~

maintainance~

Use the ~ character as a suffix to indicate that fuzzy search is to be performed. Fuzzy search returns search results based on a likely relevance to the keyword even though the keyword and results spellings may not match.

maintainance~ returns search results containing words such as maintenance.