Help:Searching: Difference between revisions

{{Shortcut|[[WP:SEARCH]]}}  

''Part of this page has been copied to [[meta:Help:Searching]] and adapted for MediaWiki in general. When you want to edit the text, compare the two pages to see where the edit can best be made.''  

Various [[search engine]]s can provide domain-specific searches, which lets you search Wikipedia specifically. Searches are based on the text as shown by the browser, so wiki markup is irrelevant. Depending on your browser, you may also be able to use [[Wikipedia:tools|tools]] that allow you to search Wikipedia using [[bookmarklet]]s.

In general, external search engines are faster than a Wikipedia search. However, because the search engine's cache is based on when the site was indexed, the search may not return newly created pages. Similarly, the search engine's cached version of the page will not be as up-to-date as the link to Wikipedia itself. Also, when returning Wikipedia articles in a regular search, [[Wikipedia:mirrors and forks|mirrors and forks]] of Wikipedia content frequently rank higher than the actual Wikipedia articles because of [[search engine optimization]] techniques.

By following the links below, you can use the [[Google]] search engine to search Wikipedia - either all languages, or English-only. Google indexes all namespaces.

If you frequently search via Google, consider installing the [http://toolbar.google.com/ Google Toolbar]. Using the "search this site" button allows you to quickly search the English version of Wikipedia. The official Google Toolbar is for [[Internet Explorer]] ([[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] only) and for [[Firefox]] (works on all operating system platforms for which [[Firefox]] is available, such as [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Linux]] and [[Mac OS X]]).

By following the links below, you can use the [[Yahoo!]] search engine to search Wikipedia - either all languages or English-only.

If you frequently search via [[Yahoo!]], consider installing the [http://toolbar.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! Companion Toolbar]. Using the "Search Only the Current Site" button allows you to quickly search the English version of Wikipedia. The official Yahoo! Companion Toolbar is only for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] with [[Internet Explorer]] and Mozilla.

By following the link below, you can use the [[Clusty]] search engine to search and cluster Wikipedia in English only.

If you frequently search via [[Clusty]], consider installing the [http://clusty.com/toolbar Clusty Toolbar] (beta).  Selecting the "Encyclopedia" search source allows you to quickly search the English version of Wikipedia. The Clusty Toolbar is available for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] with [[Internet Explorer]] and [[Mozilla Firefox]] (beta).

The searches for "fortran", "Fortran" and "FORTRAN" all return the same results. If an article has a name  including a mixture of capitalized and uncapitalized letters and is neither all initial cap or all lower case following the first word, searching is not case insensitive.  For example, consider the article [[French and Indian Wars]].  A search for 'french and indian wars' will not find this article.  However, a search for 'French and Indian Wars' will find it, as will a search for 'french and Indian Wars'.  If the article name were 'French And Indian Wars' or 'French and indian wars' a search with any capitalization variant would find it.  [[Wikipedia:Redirect|Redirect]]s can be used to work around this problem.  For example, searches for any capitalization variant of 'Isle of Wight' match [[Isle of wight]] which redirects the user to the actual article named [[Isle of Wight]].

In a search for a word with a [[diaeresis]], such as Sint Odiliënberg, it depends whether this ë is stored as one character or as "ë". In the first case one can simply search for Odilienberg (or Odiliënberg); in the second case it can only be found by searching for Odili, euml and/or nberg.  This is actually a bug that should be fixed -- the entities should be folded into their raw character equivalents so all searches on them are equivalent. See also [[Wikipedia:Special characters]].

The search only applies to the namespaces selected in the user's [[special:preferences|preferences]]. To search the other namespaces check or uncheck the tickboxes in "Search in namespaces" box found at the bottom of a search results page. Depending on the browser, a box may still be checked from a previous search, but without being effective any longer! To make sure, uncheck and recheck it.

The source text (what one sees in the edit box, also called [[wiki text]]) is searched. This distinction is relevant for [[piped link]]s, for [[Wikipedia:interlanguage link]]s (to find links to Chinese articles, search for zh, not for Zhongwen), special characters (if ê is coded as ê it is found searching for ecirc), etc.

There is a [[meta-search]] available that allows you to search different language Wikipedias at the same time.  

#If [[JavaScript]] is enabled, clicking on the name of the search plugin will automatically install the search plugin.

#If you can't install the search plugin automatically, the second source above lets you right-click on the plugin and save it to disk, or download a [[ZIP file format|ZIP file]] containing all available plugins.  Save the downloaded <tt>.src</tt> file in the <tt>searchplugins</tt> directory where Mozilla is installed and restart the browser to use the new plugin.

[[K-Meleon]] has a search button that can be used to search Google. Wikipedia can also be searched. To switch search engines do these things:  

Both [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] 6 and 7 use a customizable text file called search.ini. This file should only be edited while Opera is not running.

The following example replaces one of the existing pre-defined [[search engine]]s. It is up to the user to avoid conflicts of shortcut key (key=). By default 'w' is taken by the download.com search, so either this or the Wikipedia one should be changed. Furthermore the 'Search Engine ##' should be replaced with a free number: '12' is free by default. The Search.ini editor makes editing trivial (see external link).

To search the text that appears only in the page history, you must [[special:export|export]] the text to [[XML]] format first.  

If there is no appropriate page on Wikipedia, consider [[Wikipedia:How to start a page|creating a page]], since [[Welcome, newcomers|you]] can edit Wikipedia right now.  Or consider adding what you were looking for to the [[Requested articles]] page. Or if you have a question to be answered by Wikipedia, ask it at the [[Wikipedia:Reference desk|Reference desk]].

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