Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : April 2002

From the Experts...

Tip 1: Narrow your DIALINDEX® Results

Although it is not possible to create sets in DIALINDEX, you can further narrow/focus the results from your first SELECT statement. After the list of databases containing your search terms displays in DIALINDEX, enter SET FILES HITS. Terms in your next SELECT statement will apply only to those files you have already identified with relevant results from your intitial SELECT statement.

Tip 2: Maximize your Search Results

Did you know that a range search can pick up a maximum of 2,000 different terms in a single SELECT statement? Here's the technique to use if you want to search a range of greater than 2,000 terms.

?s pd=19900101:19970401

>>>File 399 processing for PD=19900101 : PD=19970401
>>>    started at PD=19900101 stopped at PD=19950419
      S1  524704  PD=19900101:19970401
?s pd=19950419:19970401

      S2  228547  PD=19950419:19970401
?s s1 or s2

          524704  S1
          228547  S2
      S3  753251  S1 OR S2

In this example, only one additional range search was required, but there may be other searches that require additional SELECT statements. You simply use the system generated stopping term as the starting point in the next SELECT until the system gives the set without a stopping point. Then use the OR logical operator to combine the sets to get a set of the total number of records in the range. If you are combining this concept with another, you can combine the sets in one step and avoid creating the intermediate set S3. For example, if you want to find the number of U.S. chemical patents published in the above time period, enter SELECT PC=US AND (S1 OR S2).

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