Search Syntax - Healthcare Databases Advanced Search

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Welcome to the new HDAS.

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Syntax Help: Free-Text Searching

The HDAS syntax is given in the table below. In each paragraph, the equivalent in each native interface is given, along with a short explanation.

nurs##

Applies to …	HDAS Syntax	Notes
OR	OR	cat OR mouse. OR/1-3 not supported on HDAS
AND	AND	cat AND mouse
NOT	NOT	cat NOT mouse
Mandatory/mandated wildcard	#
Multiple mandated wildcard	##
Optional wildcard	?	Proquest is exception (0-10 characters)
Right-hand truncation	*n	nurs*3 Not supported on EBSCO
Phrase search	Automatic ADJ, also ", '	Will auto-correct if you put in ''s
Proximity search (ordered)	ADJ	mathematical ADJ model
Proximity search (unordered)	ADJn	mathematical ADJ3 model
Right-hand truncation/Phrase Search - thesaurus search	"--*--"