Pistachio Backtalk Help:
Conference Search Page

Read this first: Introduction to Pistachio Backtalk

The Conference Search Page:

This page allows you to search the conference for particular words or phrases, or for postings by particular users. Note that searchs are done while you wait, so this can be a bit slow in large conferences.

What to Search for:

The top part of the form lets you enter the text you want to search for. You type the text into the box, and then select one of the three pattern types listed below the box:

Ignore Case

Selecting this indicates that you don't insist that the matching text be capitalized the same way that you typed it. Thus, if your pattern were ``nextstep'', it would match against ``Nextstep'' or ``NeXTStep'' as well.

Exact Match

By contrast, if you select ``Exact Match,'' only strings that are capitalized exactly the way you typed them will be found.

Regular Expression

You can also indicate that your pattern is a regular expression, written in the standard Unix form. Regular expressions are a way of describing more general things to look for, but the syntax can be a bit obscure. For example the regular expression ``$ ?[0-9,]*'' would search for strings of numeric digits (and possibly commas) preceeded by an optional space and a dollar sign. In other words it would find all prices entered in the conference. Sorry, we're not going to go into a detail explanation here.

What to Search Through:

The next part of the form allows you to select what parts of the conference to search through. You can check off more than one of these.

Message Text

This searchs the text of all the items and responses in the conference. You use it when you are looking for something that was said.

Item Title

This searchs the titles of the items. This can be a quick way to find particular items in the conference.

Author's Full Name

This searchs the author names posted at the head of each response. This, and the next option, are good ways to find everything a particular person has posted to the conference.

Author's Login Name

This searchs just the author login names.

Items to Search In:

By default, we search through every item in the conference, but if you want to search through just one item or just a few items, you can enter their numbers in the ``In Items'' box on the form.

By default the box says ``1-$'' which means ``from item 1 through the last item.'' If you want to search only item 16, change the contents of the box to ``16''. If you want to search items 4, 8 and 12, enter ``4,8,12''. Items will be searched in the order they are listed in this box.

Do the Search:

To execute the search, hit the ``Search'' button. You will be shown a list of the items and responses that match your query. To view the hits, click on their numbers.

Pistachio Backtalk Help:Conference Search Page