# Any way to search for short words?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-search-for-short-words/48934>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [January 8, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-search-for-short-words/48934 "2001-01-08T02:28:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-search-for-short-words/48934/1 "2001-01-08T02:28:44Z")

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I was trying to search the archives (like a good little boy) before I posted a thread to GQ. Well, the topic of my post was AMC (the cable station). Now, in theory, I should be able to pop that into the search box and get back only the posts that mention the cable station (or the auto maker I suppose). Instead, I get back **552** topics that qualify simply by including letters a, m, and c in that order (including every thread about c **amc** orders :))

So is there any way to get the search engine to look for my short word only as a whole word?

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-search-for-short-words/48934/2 "2001-01-08T10:27:12Z")

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It’s not impossible, in this case.

**+"amc "** (yes, with a space, because “amc” came up emptyhanded) gives [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=53310).

I’ve learned that the following things work.[ul][li]The + tag. It makes the word or term behind it mandatory in the search.[/li][li]Putting the word or term in brackets defines it as a _precise_ term.[/li]Juggling around with the spaces (provided you’ve done it like above, with + and brackets) sometimes gets you somewhere[/ul]I know, sort of a shaky way of searching, but it does work.