Search tips

Learn how to find exactly what you're looking for in eHive.

Overview

This page covers the following topics:

  • Types of searches

  • Characters in search

  • Single-term searches

  • Phrase searches (multiple terms)

  • Wildcard searches

  • Range searches

  • Field searches

  • Catalogue type searches

  • Complex searches

Types of searches

You can use different search types in eHive, including :

  • Phrase searches to find a group of words only when they appear together as a phrase.

  • Wildcards for searching on parts of words.

  • Field searches where the search is limited to a specific data field.

Characters in search

The following punctuation characters have special meanings and should only be used to perform one of the special search types:

  • Colon :

  • Square brackets [ ]

  • Parentheses ( )

  • Plain double quotes "

  • Asterisk *

  • Question mark ?

  • Tilde ~

Any search text between a set of double quotes is treated as a simple text search. You can include these punctuation characters inside double quotes. For example, "ABC:123".

Searching for a single term

If you are searching for a single term, such as the word book or the number 1990, you can enter this directly in the search box to retrieve your results.

Phrase searches (multiple terms)

Use plain double quote marks

If you are searching for a phrase (multiple terms) such as receipt book, you must surround the words with plain double quotation marks to retrieve records that have that exact phrase. That is, "receipt book".

Searching for receipt book without the quotation marks would retrieve records that contain either the word book or the word receipt, or both words anywhere in the record.

Similarly, if you’re searching for words or numbers separated by punctuation, for example mass-produced or 06/097/100, you must surround these terms in quotes, otherwise your results will include records which contain any part of the term.

Smart quotes don't work

Don't use Microsoft “smart quotes” (the curled quotes) for phrase searches.

Devices such as iPads often default to smart quotes. You have two options to use plain quotes:

  • Select and hold to choose plain quotes.

  • Change your device settings. On iOS these options are under Settings > General > Keyboards > Smart Punctuation (turn off).

Using AND and OR in your search

If you are searching for multiple words, but not for an exact phrase, you can use AND and OR to combine your search terms in different ways.

Examples

  • flying AND school
    Searches for records with both the words flying and school. AND must be written in capital letters.

  • +flying +school
    An alternative to AND. There is no space between the plus signs and the words that follows them.

  • flying OR school
    Searches for records with either the words flying or school, or both flying and school. OR must be written in capital letters.

  • flying NOT school
    Searches for records with the word flying but not the word school. NOT must be written in capital letters.

  • flying -school
    An alternative to NOT. There is no space between the minus sign and the word that follows it.

Wildcard searches

Searching for a term or value in eHive will only retrieve exact matches. For example, a search for the word bead will only return records that feature that exact word.

If you want to expand your results to include records that feature plurals or similar words, such as beads or beading, then you'll need to use a wildcard.

Wildcards take the place of one or more characters in a search term. A question mark (?) is used for single character searching. An asterisk (*) is used for multiple character searching.

Note: You cannot use a * or ? symbol as the first character of a search.

Examples

  • bead
    Searches for records that contain words starting with bead. For example, bead, beads, beading.

  • be*d
    Searches for records that contain words starting with the letters be and ending with the letter d. For example, bead, bend, beard, bedford.

  • bead?
    Searches for records that contain words starting with the word bead plus one additional character. For example, beads, beady.

  • be?d
    Searches for records that have any 4-letter word beginning with be and ending with d. For example, bead, bend.

Range searches

You can search on a specific field for numeric and alphabetic ranges. Enter two terms inside brackets, separated by the word TO in capital letters. Typical fields are Date made (date_made) and Latest insurance valuation (latest_insurance_valuation).

Brackets

  • Inclusive range queries are denoted by square brackets: [ ]

  • Exclusive range queries are denoted by curly brackets: { }

Examples

  • date_made:[1945 TO 1950]
    Searches for records with any date between 1945 and 1950, including both 1945 and 1950.

  • date_made:{1945 TO 1950}
    Searches for records with any date between 1945 and 1950, but not with 1945 or 1950.

Field searches

You can specify the field you would like to search in by using the field ID. You can also search for a field with no information in it. You can find field IDs in Field Help. Field IDs are in lower case.

Examples

  • place_made:ukraine
    Searches for records that contain the word Ukraine in the Place made field.

  • name:"pounamu valley"
    Searches for records that have Pounamu Valley in the Name field. Remember to put quotation marks around phrases.

  • *:* NOT place_made:*
    Searches for records with no information in the Place made field.

  • *:* NOT brief_desc:*
    Searches for records with no information in the Brief description field.

Search aliases

Some of eHive's field names have short search aliases so they're easier to use.

Object number field

  • Search alias: no

  • Example: no:"1990.21.1"

Brief description field

  • Search alias: briefdesc

  • Example: briefdesc:ceramic

Web public description field

  • Search alias:  webdesc

  • Example: webdesc:ceramic

Creator field

  • Search aliases: 

    • maker
    • creator
    • artist
    • author
  • Example: maker:chevrolet

Name/title field

  • Search aliases: 

    • name
    • title
  • Example: name:trumpet

Classification field*

  • Search alias: class

  • Example: class:vase

Collection type field*

  • Search alias: colltype

  • Example: colltype:photography

Date made field

  • Search alias: date

  • Example: date:1950

Current location field*

  • Search alias: loc

  • Example: loc:"Storeroom 1"

Object type field

  • Search alias: obtype

  • Example: obtype:painting

Place made field

  • Search alias: place

  • Example: place:"czech republic"

Images

  • Search alias: has_image

  • Examples: 

    • has_image:true searches for records with an image.

    • has_image:false searches for records without an image.

Documents

  • Search alias: has_document

  • Examples: 

    • has_document:true searches for records with a document.

    • has_document:false searches for records without a document.

*These fields are not publicly visible. You must log in to eHive to use these search aliases.

Catalogue type searches

You can search for records by eHive catalogue type using the following queries:

  • cat_type:archaeology searches within Archaeology.

  • cat_type:art searches within Art.

  • cat_type:archives searches within Archives.

  • cat_type:history searches within History.

  • cat_type:library searches within Library.

  • cat_type:natural_science searches within Natural Science.

  • cat_type:photography searches with Photography and Multimedia.

Complex searches

  • object_type:magazine -name:Jugendstil
    Searches for records that have magazine in the Object type field and don't have Jugendstil in the Name/Title field.

  • object_type:magazine AND NOT name:Jugendstil
    An alternative.

  • name:"pounamu sculpture"-5
    Searches for records that contain these two terms within five positions of each other in the field you specify before the colon(:), in this case the Name/Title field.

  • (greek AND vase) OR (roman AND vase)
    Searches for records that contain both Greek and vase in one record or both Roman and vase in one record.

  • (design OR art) AND german
    Searches for records that contain the term German and must also contain design or art as well.

  • object_number:("1999.1" "1999.5" "2006.5")
    Searches for a list of discrete object numbers.

  • object_number:["1999.001" TO "1999.003"]
    Searches for a range of object numbers. This uses an alphabetic range, so if you're using numbers of varying length you may find unwanted matches. For example, 1999.0022 would be found in this example. You must use square brackets and the word TO must be capitalised.

  • object_number:["1999.001" TO "1999.003"] -object_number:"1999.0022" -object_number:"1999.0023"
    Searches for a range of object numbers and excludes some specific numbers.

  • name:("blue sky" "white horse" "black bear")
    Searches for records with the Name/Title field containing any of series of text phrases.