Truncation

Step 2: Using Search Word Variants: Truncation

To retrieve variations in word endings, we can place a question mark (?) which acts as a wildcard at the end of a word stem. The Dialog system does not care how many characters follow the word stem.

Thus, in the following example, all words beginning with the letters ACQUI are retrieved.

Truncation helps to broaden a search.

Example:

s acqui?

Searches:

acquisition
acquisitions
acquire
acquiring
acquired
acquires

Quick Check 1: Look at the search terms we just identified in Step 1 to see where variant spellings can be used. Write down the search terms and add a truncation symbol ? to appropriate search terms. Click the Check Yourself button to see the answers. Check yourself

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Learn More #1:

Truncation can be a mixed blessing, so it is wise to avoid short word stems that could retrieve many different words.

If we truncate BEE? to get the word BEE and its plural BEES, we will also retrieve BEEF, BEEFALO, BEER, BEEN, BEETHOVEN, and many other words.

A good general rule is to truncate word stems having at least four characters.

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