# How do you search for multiple words?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [March 19, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561 "2007-03-19T14:51:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/1 "2007-03-19T14:51:24Z")

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What is the syntax for searching, oh, say…white elephant? I never seem to be able to figure it out. Do you put a plus in between the words, with spaces or not?

There’s probably already a thread on this somewhere, but I can’t search for it… 😉

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/2 "2007-03-19T14:53:19Z")

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“white elephant”

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/3 "2007-03-19T14:54:32Z")

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Or use [www.soople.com](http://www.soople.com) for your searches then you don’t need to know anything.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/4 "2007-03-19T14:56:09Z")

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No offence intended there. I recommend it to everyone because it does all the formatting for you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/5 "2007-03-19T14:57:17Z")

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Wow that really looks like post-padding eh?

But honest it isn’t.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/6 "2007-03-19T17:04:13Z")

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Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/7 "2007-03-19T17:12:41Z")

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Ok, cool:

If I type in “white” “elephant” it only finds the word _white_.  
If I type in “white elephant” it only finds the phrase _white elephant_.  
If I type in “white” + “elephant” it finds each word as a stand alone, but the thread contains both words.

I think I have it!

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-search-for-multiple-words/396561/8 "2007-03-20T01:41:24Z")

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Actually, if you type in the words “white” and “elephant”, you will get anything with the words white OR elephant in it. 🙂