Search Help

By default, if multiple search terms are entered together, the search engine will find all of the search terms within about 20 seconds of each other. The search will include closed-captioning data as well as program titles and descriptions.

For example, searching for:

UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

will return results in which the words "united," "states," "presidential" and "election" all occur within about 20 seconds.

This page lists other ways to combine search terms in order to refine and filter search results.


BASIC SEARCH: These are basic tools for combining search terms.

In order to	Use the syntax	Example
Search for multiple terms occurring together, or either separately.	OR	Searching for: SENATE OR CONGRESS   will find the word "Senate" or "Congress,"
Exclude results containing certain terms	NOT or -(minus sign)	Searching for APPLE IPOD -IPHONE or   APPLE IPOD NOT IPHONE   will find the words "Apple" and "iPod" only where they appear without the word "iPhone."
Search for an exact sequence of words	" " (quotation marks)	Searching for "PARIS HILTON"   will find only results in which the phrase "Paris Hilton" appears exactly as in the quotation marks, and not mentions of "Paris" or "Hilton" alone, or results such as "the Hilton in Paris"
Group words together in a search	( ) (Parentheses)	Searching for HOUSTON (ROCKETS OR ASTROS)   will find "Houston" together with "Rockets," or "Houston" together with "Astros,".

SEARCH FILTERS: These operators can be used with search terms to filter search results using metadata.
By default, searches in the Link client will search closed-captioning data (Text), Title, and Description.

In order to	Use the syntax	Example
Filter by date or date range	DATE: Dates must be entered as a month/day or as month/day/year. Terms can be entered as as date or as a time period. Allowed time period terms are: TODAY, YESTERDAY, THISWEEK, LASTWEEK, THISMONTH, LASTMONTH, THISYEAR, LASTYEAR AFTER and BEFORE can be used to find results made before or after a date or time. Times must be entered in 24-hour (military) format. Date and time must be separated with a space.	Searching for PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DATE:01/13/08   will return mentions of "presidential" and "election" together in recordings made on January 13, 2008. Searching for DATE:11/12   will return results from November 12. Searching for DATE:THISWEEK   will return results from the week that began at midnight on the most recent Sunday. Searching for DATE:LASTWEEK   will return results from the week that ended at midnight on the most recent Sunday. Searching for DATE:THISMONTH   will return results from the current calendar month. Searching for DATE:LASTMONTH   will return results from the previous calendar month. Searching for DATE:THISYEAR   will return results from the current calendar year. Searching for DATE:LASTYEAR   will return results from the previous calendar year. Searching for AFTER:01/13/08 13:30   will return results from after January 13, 2008 at 1:30 PM. Searching for AFTER:01/13/08 1:30   will return results from after January 13, 2008 at 1:30 AM.
Filter by channel number, callsign, or network	NETWORK: Will restrict the search to recordings made on a particular network. CALLSIGN: Will restrict the search to recordings made on a channel with a particular callsign. CHANNEL: Can be used to restrict the search to a particular network, callsign, or channel number.	Searching for "NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS" NETWORK:SPORTSNET   will return mentions of the exact phrase "New England Patriots" on Sportsnet. Searching for CALLSIGN:WABC   will return results from WABC. Searching for CHANNEL:SPORTSNET   will return results from Sportsnet. Searching for CHANNEL:WABC   will return results from WABC. Searching for CHANNEL:39   will return results from channel 39.
Filter by program genre/category, title, or description	TITLE: Returns only results from programs with this title. CATEGORY: Will restrict searches to programs listed in a particular category in the SnapStream Program Guide. DESCRIPTION: Search only within program descriptions, including general information about the program, names of actors, people appearing on the program, etc.	Searching for "SATELLITE RADIO" TITLE:"CNN NEWSROOM"   could be used to find mentions of the phrase "satellite radio" during the program CNN Newsroom Searching for OPRAH WINFREY CATEGORY:NEWS   will return mentions of Oprah Winfrey from shows that are categorized as news, including live news broadcasts, interviews, newsmagazines, etc. Searching for HEALTH CARE DESCRIPTION:DEBATE   could be used to find mentions of health and care during programs that are described as debates. Searching for DESCRIPTION:"KATIE COURIC"   could be used to find results from shows hosted by or featuring Katie Couric
Filter by file type	IS: Will restrict searches to a particular type of file. The following can be used as search terms with this operator: ORIGINAL CLIP SHOWSQUEEZE To exclude a type of file, use NOT or -IS:	Searching for IS:SHOWSQUEEZE   will only return results that have been transcoded to WMV or H.264 using SnapStream's Showsqueeze utility. Searching for -IS:CLIP   will exclude clips made using the Enterprise Server from the search.

OTHER SEARCH OPERATORS: These operators provide a variety of different functions that can help you refine your search and locate hard-to-find results.

In order to	Use the syntax	Example
Search by prefix ("wildcard" search)	* (asterisk) An asterisk represents any number of unknown characters. This is known as a "wildcard" search. A wildcard cannot be used as the first character of a search term.	Searching for ENGL*   will return results for "English," "England," etc. Searching for CITY OF *   will return no results.
Search for similar sounding words (useful for finding words with alternate spellings, or words that are frequently misspelled)	~ (tilde) A tilde searches for words that are similar, but not identical, to the search term. This is known as "fuzzy" search. This operator can be fine-tuned with a number between 0 and 1 to find results that are less or more similar to the term. Numbers closer to 1 will find more similar results. When no number is entered, the term will be searched with a value of 0.5.	Searching for JOHN~   can be used to find the name "John" together with alternate spellings like "Jon." Searching for ENVIRONMENT~   will find the word "environment" along with misspellings like "envrioment" or "environemnt" Searching for ENVIRONMENT~0.8   will find results closer to the actual term than ENVIRONMENT~0.4.
Find keywords that occur within a specified proximity of each other	" "~(number of words) Entering a phrase enclosed within quotation marks and followed by a tilde (~) and a number will search for the words in the phrase within that distance (in words) of each other. By default, when two or more search terms are entered, the search engine will search for them as far apart as possible (about 20 seconds).	Searching for "SENATOR CLINTON"~10   will find the words "Senator" and "Clinton" within 10 words of each other.
Restrict results to closed captioning data	TEXT: Will search only within closed-captioning data, not program title or description. This can be useful when searching for mentions of search terms that are likely to appear in titles or descriptions, such as mentions of actors, TV personalities or TV shows.	Searching for TEXT:"The Daily Show"   will return mentions of the phrase "The Daily Show" in closed-captioning data, but not programs titled The Daily Show