Searching for literal strings

[SolitonMan]

Hi, there may have been a topic on this in the past but I haven't seen it. I was wondering if you could update the search feature to allow for the ability to search for literal strings. For example, earlier today I wanted to search for discussions on the Eternal Wand magic item from the MIC. I typed "eternal wand" into the search text field on the search page, but when results came back the search indicated it had been for '"eternal' and 'wand"'.

Depending on the back end database being used, it should be a straightforward upgrade to allow for such searches. Clearly the input is already being split based on spaces...a simple check for double or single quotes around phrases prior to splitting could be implemented. If you need a hand, send me the code, I do PHP dev for a living. Thanks!

 

[Morrus]

Unfortunately, we merely purchased vBulletin; we didn't write it. Unless there's an existing modification to do that (I'm not aware of one, but there might be one available) I don't think that's something we're able to do. One of the curses of using pre-packaged software, unfortunately!

 

[SolitonMan]

Unfortunately, we merely purchased vBulletin; we didn't write it. Unless there's an existing modification to do that (I'm not aware of one, but there might be one available) I don't think that's something we're able to do. One of the curses of using pre-packaged software, unfortunately!

Cool enough, I'll do some digging and if I find anything interesting I'll let you know!

 

[Plane Sailing]

A quick google search found these tips

To search for expressions which include spaces, use the hash/pound symbol (do not use quotes)
eg. le#pen will return matches for both Le Pen and LePen

Boolean operators also work. Words are AND'ed together by default.
eg. serbia croatia will return all threads which mention both countries

serbia or croatia will return threads which name either

serbia and not croatia (or serbia -croatia) will return matches which mention one but not the other

The asterisk wildcard also works
eg. com*uter will return matches to both computer and commuter

It can also be combined with the boolean operators: com*uter and not computer will have the same effect as just searching for commuter

A useful trick for searches shorter than the 4-letter limit: append an asterisk
eg. CIA* (but beware this will also return any words beginning with cia)

Cheers