When you index a database or other file containing fields, dtSearch saves the field information so you can perform searches limited to a particular field. For example, if you index an Access database with a Name field and a Description field, then you could search for apple in the Name field like this:
Name contains apple
In addition to databases, dtSearch automatically recognizes fields in XML files, HTML files (META tags), Word, Excel, and WordPerfect files (the document summary fields), and PDF files (the document information fields).
To see a list of all of the fields defined in your index, click the fields button in the Search dialog box.
Field searches can be combined using AND, OR, and NOT, like this:
(City contains (Portland or Seattle)) and (Address contains (Washington))
The parenthesis are necessary to ensure that dtSearch interprets the search request correctly.
Some file formats such as XML support nesting of fields. Example:
<record>
<name>John Smith</name>
<address>
<street>123 Oak Street</street>
<city>Middleton</city>
...
In dtSearch, a search of a field includes any fields that are nested inside of the field, so the XML file above would be retrieved in a search for any of the following:
record contains oak
address contains oak
street contains oak
To specify a specific subfield of a field, use / to separate the field names, like this:
record/address contains oak
address/street contains oak
record/address/street contains oak
Put a / at the front of the field name to specify that it cannot be a sub-field of another field:
/record/name contains Smith
/name contains Smith
The second search request above would not match the XML example because, while it contains a "name" field, the name field is a sub-field of the record-field. A search for /name specifies a "name" field at the top of the field hierarchy.
Finally, you can use // to specify any number of unspecified intervening fields, like this:
/record//city contains Middleton
You can also define a field at the time of a search by designating words that begin and end the field, like this:
(beginning to end) contains (something)
The beginning TO end part defines the boundaries of the field. The CONTAINS part indicates the words or phrases you are searching for in the field. The only connector allowed in the beginning and end expressions in a field definition is OR. Examples:
(name to address) contains john smith
(name to (address or xlastword)) contains (oak w/10 lane)
The field boundaries are not considered hits in a search. Only the words being searched for (john smith, oak, lane) are marked as hits.