Basic search operators

  • Aug 19, 2026
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  Article updated: June 22, 2026

Basic search operators

The following table describes the most commonly used search operators in Lumen searches.

Basic search operators
OperatorDescriptionExample
ANDSearches for results that include both specified terms on the same page.

social AND media

Matches results that contain "social" and "media" on the same page. Results with only one of these terms are excluded.

AND NOTSearches for results that include one specified term and exclude the other specified term.

social AND NOT media

Matches results of "social", as long as "media" is not mentioned on the same page.

ORSearches for results that include at least one of the specified terms.

social OR media

Matches results that contain "social" or "media".

NOTSearches for results that exclude the specified term.

NOT platform

Matches results that do not include the word "platform".

( )
Combinations		Groups terms together so that a single operator can be applied to everything in the brackets.

(social AND media) OR (social AND network)

Matches results that contain "social" and "media" on the same page, or results that contain "social" and "network" on the same page.


" "
(Exact phrase search)		Searches for results that contain the term exactly as specified. If you use upper case letters in your search term, Lumen matches both upper and lower case results for the term.

"HOOTSUITE platform"

Matches results that contain the phrase "HOOTSUITE platform", "Hootsuite platform", "hootsuite platform", and so on.

Upper case searchSearches for results that contain the specified term in upper case letters only.

HOOTSUITE

Matches results that contain "HOOTSUITE", but not "Hootsuite", "hootsuite", and so on.

*
(Wildcard search)		Searches for results that contain the term, with any number of characters where the "*" appears. If you place the "*" at the end of a term, Lumen finds variations of the root term.

Luxemb*

Matches results that contain variants of the root term (for example, Luxembourg, Luxemburg, Luxemburgish, and so on).

?
(One character wildcard search)		Searches for results that contain the term, with any letter where the "?" appears. Use this operator to include spelling variations of a term. Do not place the "?" at the end of the term (use the "*" operator instead).

customi?e

Matches results that contain any variation of the word "customize" (for example, "customize" and "customise").

" "~
(Fuzzy search)		Searches for results that contain the terms specified in quotes (to a maximum four words) expressed with a hyphen, space, or other special character.

“car sharing”~

Matches results that contain variations of the term “car sharing” (for example, carsharing, car-sharing, car sharing, and so on).

~n
(Fuzzy search)

Searches for results that contain words that are similar to the specified term. You can also use a number (1 or 2) after "~" to indicate the number of characters that can be different.

roam~1

Matches results that contain words similar to the word "roam" (for example, "road" and "room").

+" "
(Raw data search)

Searches for results that contain the specified term, including any special characters.

+"maître d'hôtel"

Matches results that contain the words "maître d'hôtel", including apostrophe and accented letters.

++" "
Exact raw data search 		Searches for results that contain the specified term, including any special characters and upper or lower case letters.

++"Hôtel d'Orsay"

Matches results that contain the words "Hôtel d'Orsay", including apostrophe, accented letters, and capitalization.

\
(Quoted term search)

Searches for results that include quotation marks as part of a keyword or keyword phrase. Make sure you place the "\" before the quotation marks. Use this operator with the raw data search (+)or exact raw data search (++).

+"It's simply \"the best\""

Matches results that contain the phrase "It's simply 'the best'", where "the best" is in quotation marks.

 

Title
Basic search operators
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search-operators-basic
Search operators
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