Lesson 3-7 - Summary: Searching Classic Dialog for the Patent Researcher

Managing Search Results: Summary

In Lessons 2 and 3 we reviewed the basic commands necessary to conduct a Dialog search and viewed a search from beginning to end. Here is a summary of all the basic commands we just learned.

Command	Example	When to Use It
BEGIN B	begin 654 b 654 b 654,652 b patfull	Use BEGIN with a file number to specify the database(s) to be searched.
EXPAND E	expand pn=us 123456 e pn=us 123456	Use EXPAND to verify the spelling of a term and to view similar entries.
SELECT S	select pn=us 123456 s pn=us 123456 s s1	Use SELECT to create a set of records (e.g., s1) that contains the specified terms.
TYPE T	type s1/6/1-3 t s2/8/1 t s3/3/1,2	Use TYPE to display search results in a specified format.
DISPLAY SETS	display sets ds	Use DISPLAY SETS to display a list of all sets created since the last BEGIN command.
LOGOFF	logoff	Use LOGOFF to end the search and disconnect from Dialog.

Command

Example

When to Use It

BEGIN
B

begin 654
b 654
b 654,652
b patfull

Use BEGIN with a file number to specify the database(s) to be searched.

EXPAND
E

expand pn=us 123456
e pn=us 123456

Use EXPAND to verify the spelling of a term and to view similar entries.

SELECT
S

select pn=us 123456
s pn=us 123456
s s1

Use SELECT to create a set of records (e.g., s1) that contains the specified terms.

TYPE
T

type s1/6/1-3
t s2/8/1
t s3/3/1,2

Use TYPE to display search results in a specified format.

DISPLAY SETS

display sets
ds

Use DISPLAY SETS to display a list of all sets created since the last BEGIN command.

LOGOFF

logoff

Use LOGOFF to end the search and disconnect from Dialog.

If you have finished the practice exercises online using the ONTAP databases, you are ready to go on to Lesson 4.

3-7

Learn More #3: Logical Operators:

The OR operator is used to retrieve terms that are synonyms or equivalents. For example, the retrieval of INTERNET OR WORLD(w)WIDE(w)WEB consists of all records containing one or both of these terms. OR increases the number of records retrieved-in other words, with OR you always get mORe. If more than one of the terms occurs within a given record, the retrieved set includes the record only once.

Example:

select protect? OR shield?
The AND operator retrieves records where two or more search terms or groups of search terms occur in the same record. SELECT PROFIT(W)SHARING AND PRODUCTIVITY retrieves only those records containing all of these words. AND decreases the number of records retrieved since it requires each term to be present for retrieval.

Example:

select japan AND export?

select market(5n)share AND long(w)distance(w)service
The NOT operator prevents records that include unacceptable or irrelevant search terms from being retrieved. The expression PROFIT(w)SHARING NOT DEFERRED(w)PAYOUT(w)PLAN retrieves records that contain the term PROFIT SHARING but excludes those records that also contain the term DEFERRED PAYOUT PLAN.

Example:

select eclipse? not solar

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