Part of a string submitted to a search engine. The simplest form of search term is a single word: this requests pages which contain that word.

Engines vary, but other commonly-supported terms are :-

  • a phrase in "..." (the given words must appear together)
  • a boolean expression such as linux OR hurd
  • a regular expression1 such as program*
  • a special term such as link:www.everything2.com
  • a search term preceded by a "-" (excludes pages which contain the term)
  • a search term preceded by a "+" (includes only pages which contain the term)

1 Search engines only allow very limited forms of regular expression