# Can't search for 'XP?' **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 28, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322 "2001-09-28T15:55:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/1 "2001-09-28T15:55:18Z")
I wanted to ask if people are going to buy Windows XP. So I put in ‘XP’ in the text search box (to see if there are previous topics on this), did the other boxes, tried three times & each time search results gave me a message of “Please specify either some search words or a username to search by.” So the board doesn’t recognize Microsoft’s new operating system as a valid word for search today? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/2 "2001-09-28T15:59:29Z")
The search engine will not look for any string of less than three consecutive characters. There is also a list of excluded words, such as “and,” “the,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/6 "2001-09-28T20:54:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by threshhill \* > \*\*Or, of course “Windows XP” 🙂 \*\* Afraid not. The search engine doesn’t do phrase searches. It would give the hamsters a heart attack. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/7 "2001-09-28T21:02:42Z")
Maybe if you searched for XP in its more commonly known versions: “That #!!!\*\*@XP” or “G_d_m\*MF XP” ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/8 "2001-09-28T23:31:55Z")
thank you UncleBeer, Im sure that’ll come in handy. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/9 "2001-09-29T02:13:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Afraid not. The search engine doesn’t do phrase searches. It would give the hamsters a heart attack. Hmmph. I suppose multiple search request boxes with boolean operators is out of the question, then? Find all threads where contents includes “XP” and contents does not include “experiment” or “expos” and (last post \< 7/1/01 or username includes “anthracite”) and Forum is not “About this message board” and Forum is not “Comments on Cecil’s Columns” and Status is not “locked” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/10 "2001-09-29T22:19:06Z")
You can combine usernames and search words, as long as everything meets the three-letter requirement. The “not ATMB” thing can’t be done in one swell foop, but since you can’t search “all fora” any more, anyway, that would just be one less forum you’d search. Believe me, I’d love a grep-powered regexp search engine as much as the next nerd, but unfortunately, that’s not something we can change, and it doesn’t look like anyone else is going to, either. ---
**Author:** ![Fonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Fonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fonz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/11 "2001-10-22T02:54:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*Can you Bump your posts? You know, you write a messsage of ‘bump’ & it sends your topic to the top? \*\* I don’t see why not. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-search-for-xp/84322/12 "2001-10-22T14:54:56Z")
Got multiple windows open Fonz? Hey, I know I wrote a topic ‘are you going to buy windows xp’? in My Humble Opinion, but doesn’t come up with subject searches of ‘windows xp’ or ‘xpxxx’ Maybe someday.