Boolean operators allow conditional search results
Summarize
Summary of Boolean Operators Allow Conditional Search Results
Boolean operators enhance search functionality by allowing complex queries in global text searches across various interfaces, such as the Global text search field, Knowledge Base search, and List search for text. These operators are case-sensitive and include AND, OR, and NOT, which help refine search results effectively.
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Key Features
- OR: Finds documents containing any of the specified terms. For example, "email password" OR email retrieves documents with either term.
- AND: Requires all specified terms to be present in the documents. For instance, "CPU load" AND "10 minutes" retrieves documents containing both phrases.
- NOT: Excludes documents containing specified terms. For example, "CPU load" NOT "10 minutes" finds documents with "CPU load" but not "10 minutes." Note that NOT must precede the term to be excluded without any space.
Key Outcomes
Using these Boolean operators allows ServiceNow customers to perform precise and tailored searches, improving efficiency in finding relevant documents and information. Understanding these operators enables users to construct effective queries, leading to more accurate search results and enhanced productivity within the ServiceNow platform.
Construct complex searches using Boolean AND, OR, and NOT operators in global text searches.
- Global text search field
- Knowledge Base search
- List search for text
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| OR or vertical bar symbol (|) | Finds a match if any of the search terms exist in a document (a union of sets). For example, to find documents that contain either email password or just
email, you can search for "email password" OR email or "email password"|email.
Using the .or. operator, which the system uses when you create OR condition groups for fields other than Keywords with the condition builder, can produce different results. For
example, this filter searches for records with short descriptions containing SSO and then searches separately for records with short descriptions containing
SAML: Note: By design, you can only have one Keywords filter condition per condition set. If you select the Keywords field in a filter choice list, the OR button for that filter condition becomes unavailable.
Similarly, if you construct an OR filter condition, the Keywords field becomes unavailable in the filter choice lists. |
| AND | Finds a match if all search terms exist in a document (an intersection of sets). For example, to find documents that contain both "CPU load" and "10 minutes", search for "CPU load" AND "10 minutes"
By default, Zing applies an AND operator between all search terms not separated by OR or NOT operators. For example, if you enter email server down as your search terms, the system searches
for email AND server AND down. Note: For Knowledge Base searches, if the default AND search returns poor results, the search is automatically re-run with the OR operator. Administrators can configure the knowledge base search to
always use OR by modifying the glide.knowman.search.operator system property. |
| NOT, minus (-), or exclamation point (!) | Excludes documents that contain the search term after the NOT operator (a difference of sets). For example, to find documents that contain "CPU load" but not "10 minutes", you can search for "CPU load"
NOT "10 minutes" or "CPU load" -"10 minutes" or "CPU load" !"10 minutes".
NOT must be a stand-alone term in your search. For example, atom NOT ion excludes the term ion, but NOTION searches for the term notion. The minus and exclamation point symbols must immediately precede the search term that you want to exclude. For example, a search for email !Joe excludes Joe but a search for email ! Joe includes Joe. You can't use the NOT operator to exclude all terms in your search. For example, the following search returns no results: NOT "10 minutes". |