Zing indexes punctuation as part of some words

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Zing indexes punctuation as part of some words

    The Zing search engine in ServiceNow Zurich release indexes certain punctuation marks as part of words to enhance search accuracy for common terms, especially company names, product numbers, acronyms, host names, and record numbers. This approach improves the precision of search results by recognizing punctuation characters integral to these terms.

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    Key Features

    • Ampersands (&), plus signs (+), and hyphens (-): Indexed within words common in company names, enabling exact matches to terms like "H&R Block," "Google+," or "Coca-Cola."
    • Apostrophes ('): Trailing possessives are ignored, while most apostrophes are retained to support searches for proper names such as "O'Reilly" and "O'Reilly's."
    • Hyphens (-), underscores (), and periods (.): Included in product numbers that follow typical patterns with frequent numbers, allowing exact matches to identifiers like "PROD-10-987" or "PROD10987."
    • Numbers ([0-9]): Used in product and record numbers, with record numbers requiring recognized prefixes, e.g., "INT1234567" for Incident records.
    • Periods (.): Support acronyms with or without separation (e.g., "u.s.a." or "usa"), host names like "en.myhost123.com," IPv4 addresses such as "10.0.0.1," and product numbers following patterns including periods.

    Note: Punctuation handling does not affect wildcard or boolean operators, which operate independently within Zing.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    • Searches involving company names, product numbers, acronyms, or record identifiers with embedded punctuation will yield more precise results.
    • Understanding which punctuation is indexed helps in formulating effective search queries for business data and records.
    • Wildcard and boolean searches remain unaffected by this punctuation indexing and can be used for advanced search scenarios.

    Related Tasks

    Customers can configure and manage text indexing through tasks such as setting up tables for indexing, creating text index groups, regenerating or removing indexes, and adjusting query modes to optimize search performance.

    Zing indexes some punctuation marks as part of some words to improve search results for common search terms.

    Table 1. Punctuation indexed as part of a word
    Punctuation Indexed to find Search behavior
    Ampersands [&] Company names Zing locates terms containing punctuation characters that are common in company names: ampersands (&), plus signs (+), or hyphens (-).

    For example, a search for H&R Block locates exact matches to the search term.
    Apostrophes ['] Proper names Zing ignores trailing possessives and retains most others to find company names.

    For example, a search for O'Reilly's locates matches to O'Reilly and O'Reilly's.
    Hyphens [-] Company names Zing locates terms containing punctuation characters that are common in company names: ampersands (&), plus signs (+), or hyphens (-).

    For example, a search for Coca-Cola locates exact matches to the search term.
    Product numbers Zing locates product numbers that follow a typical pattern. To meet this pattern, search terms must contain frequent numbers and only include underscores (_), hyphens (-), or periods for punctuation.

    For example, a search for PROD-10-987 locates exact matches to the search term.
    Numbers [123] Product numbers Zing locates product numbers that follow a typical pattern. To meet this pattern, search terms must contain frequent numbers and only include underscores (_), hyphens (-), or periods for punctuation.

    For example, a search for PROD10987 locates exact matches to the search term.
    Record numbers Zing locates record numbers that follow a typical pattern. To meet this pattern, search terms must start with a recognized record number prefix.

    For example, a search for INT1234567 locates exact matches to the Incident record.
    Periods [.] Acronyms Zing locates acronyms whether they are separated by periods or not.

    For example, a search for u.s.a. locates matches to usa or u.s.a.. Note that wildcard searches may affect acronym handling.

    In another example, a search for u.s.* may yield better results than a search for u.s*.
    Host names Zing locates sequences of letters and numbers separated only by periods.

    For example, a search for en.myhost123.com locates exact matches to the search term.
    IP addresses Zing locates numbers that follow a typical IPv4 address pattern.

    For example, a search for 10.0.0.1 locates exact matches to the search term.
    Product numbers Zing locates product numbers that follow a typical pattern. To meet this pattern, search terms must contain frequent numbers and only include underscores (_), hyphens (-), or periods for punctuation.

    For example, a search for PROD.10.987 locates exact matches to the search term.
    Plus signs [+] Company names Zing locates terms containing punctuation characters that are common in company names: ampersands (&), plus signs (+), or hyphens (-).

    For example, a search for Google+ locates exact matches to the search term.
    Underscores [_] Product numbers Zing locates product numbers that follow a typical pattern. To meet this pattern, search terms must contain frequent numbers and only include underscores (_), hyphens (-), or periods for punctuation.

    For example, a search for PROD_10_987 locates exact matches to the search term.
    Note:
    The punctuation handling described here doesn't affect wildcard and boolean operators. These operators provide separate Zing functions.