Free Text Search
This topic describes how Search handles the search terms that you submit as a free text search.
By default, text entered in the Console search box is interpreted as a free text search. You can use a free text search to conduct a search of any category that Search supports. This includes searches for resources, pages across services in the Console, and documentation.
Matching
Search tries to match search terms against the values of indexed fields. For resources, this means that Search evaluates the value of all indexed resource attributes, from common attributes (except the resource type attribute) to attributes specific to a resource type. For services, this includes all page display names and service groups. For documentation, this includes the title and the contents of the topic. (Search does not query the topic description, topic category, or keyword metadata.)
To provide matching results to the text given in a free text search, Search queries all indexed fields by
applying the = (equals) operator to text that you specified. If you're
familiar with advanced queries, the effect is the same as using a
matching clause. For example, a free text search for the term
"net" queries all resource types, service pages, and documentation for the
string "net" in any indexed field. If the string appears as part or the whole
of a value anywhere in an indexed field, Search considers the found item a
matching result. Search does not require
exact matching, but an exact match does improve a result's ranking.
If the free text search includes a delimiting character (for example, a hyphen), the delimiter causes Search to treat the text on either side of the delimiter as an independent search term. For example, a free text search for "2020-04" looks for the string "2020" and the string "04". If a potential result contains either string, then it's a match.
Free text search matches individual terms from the provided text. Search does not try to match specific combinations of characters that you might group by using quotes or by presenting terms in a specific order. Likewise, proximity of search terms does not matter. However, if you have multiple search terms in a free text search, results that contain multiple matches to the search terms have a higher ranking in the search results.
Ranking of Results
To rank results, Search evaluates each potential result for how closely it can match the search term or terms provided. Exact matches occupy a higher rank in the results than partial matches. Search also considers how many matches for the exact search term the result contains. Either a close match or multiple matching terms improves the result's ranking.