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Terms & Connectors

A guide to Boolean search commands in Westlaw, Lexis+, and Bloomberg Law

Terms & Connectors - Bloomberg Law

OPERATOR

EXAMPLE

DESCRIPTION

(space)

securities fraud knowledge

Terms entered in the Keywords field without an operator will interpret them joined by AND

AND

change and "res judicata"

Returns results that contain both search terms/phrases.

OR

default or foreclosure

Returns results that contain at least one of the search terms/phrases.

NOT, AND NOT, BUT NOT

collateral not estoppel

Returns results that do not contain the identified term/phrase.

“ “

standard and "expedited proceeding"

Returns results that contain an exact phrase.

^ “ “

^"arm"

Returns case sensitive results that contain an exact phrase.

( )

trade secrets and (discovery or acquisition)

Used to nest multi-part searches and control the order in which search operations are performed.

*

Fact*

Returns recognized terms that match any single character in the middle or at the end of a word.

!

fact!

Returns recognized terms that match any number of characters in the middle or end of a word.

N/x, /x, W/x

(motion n/3 approve) n/5 collateral

Returns results that contain search terms within a specified range of a term, regardless of the order in which the terms appear.

NP/x, PRE/x, +x

transcript np/5 clerk

Returns results that contain search terms within a specified range of a term in a specified order.

S/, /S, /SENT

motion s/ denied

Returns results that contain search terms within the same sentence.

P/, /P, /PARA

respondent p/ answer

Returns results that contain search terms within the same paragraph.

ATLx, ATLEASTx

atl5(forum shopping)

Returns results with at least a specified number of occurrences of a search term/phrase.

ATMx

atm5(fraud)

Returns results with at most a specified number of occurrences of a search term/phrase.