USGenWeb Archives Search Tips
~
= NOT e.g. ~"joy fisher" & "fisher" means look for fisher except for
joy fisher
If you wish to exclude a name from the search use a tilde ~
you want to search for Smith but do not want John Smith,
then use a tilde ~ in front of the name you wish to exclude.
Example ~john smith will return all Smiths but not John.
| = OR e.g. (john|fred) & "fisher" means john or fred with fisher
& = AND e.g. "john brown" & "fred smith" means look for the fullname john
brown and fred smith
( ) for complex conditions e.g. (john|fred) & (smith|brown) which
means at least john or fred must accompany smith or brown
" use quotes for a specific phrase e.g. if you want "Joy Fisher" instead of Joy Smith and John Fisher
% = Wild Card. The percent character can be used as a wild card %
e.g. "joy fish%"