Advanced search options on the Broadcom Support Portal

Products

• Support Portal

Issue/Introduction

Learn how to perform advanced search and use search operators on the Broadcom Support Portal at https://support.broadcom.com/search-results.html.

• Search operators
  • AND (default for standard searches)
  • OR (default for advanced searches)
  • NOT
  • " " (exact match search)
  • +
  • * (wildcard search)
  • ? (single wildcard search)
• Advanced search
• Limitations
  • Special characters

Resolution

Our search supports three Boolean operators, an exact match capability, and two wildcards—for terms and characters respectively. To use any operator, prefix your search query with a hashtag/pound symbol (#) and then a space. For example:

# coffee NOT sugar

This finds all content that has the keyword "coffee" but not the keyword "sugar".

Note: Using # without a space afterwards may produce unintended results. Once you use #, the space between words is an OR operator (versus on standard search, without the #, spaces between words are an AND.

Search operators

Operator	Description	Example
AND or use &&	Returns content containing the terms or phrases on the left and right of AND. Note: This is the default search operator only on standard (non-advanced searches)	# content AND source AND dynamics Finds content that has all three keywords: "content", "source", and "dynamics," not necessarily in that order.
OR or use ||	Finds content containing either of the terms or phrases around OR. Note: This is the default search operator when using advanced searching.	# install OR upgrade Finds content that has either "install" or "upgrade".
NOT	Excludes content containing the term or phrase followed by NOT.	# sep NOT "sep on premises" Finds content with the keyword "sep," but not with "sep on premises". # sep 14.3 NOT mp1 Finds content with the keywords "sep" and "14.3" but not with the keyword "mp1".
" "	Double quotes function as exact match operators. Finds content containing the exact phrase or term. Note: Stemming will not be applied (e.g. installing, installation, installer). However, stop words will be included.	Example 1: # "recognise" This search will ignore content that has "recognize", "recognized", "recognised", "recognization," and other forms of "recognise". Example 2: # "install" failed This search will ignore content that has "installed", "installing", "installation", and other forms of "install". Example 3:  # "no route to host" Finds content with an exact match of the string "no route to host," including stop words (e.g. the word "to" in this example). Example 4: # clarity "export to excel" performance Finds content with an exact match of the string "export to excel," and will use the AND operator for all other keywords.
+	The plus symbol limits the search to content that contains the term or phrase following +.  Do not use a space after the +. Adding one or more keywords after + will give preference to the AND operator first, and then to the OR operator.	# dlp +15 Finds content that necessarily have the keyword "15", along with "dlp". # cleanwipe +removal tool Finds content that necessarily have the keyword "removal tool", along with "cleanwipe".
*	The asterisk symbol is used as a wildcard for terms and phrases. Note: Use quotes when using wildcards within a phrase (example 1). Do not use quotes when using wildcards with a single word or words joined by a period. (examples 2 and 3).	Example 1: # "how to * symantec endpoint protection" Finds content with phrases such as: how to install symantec endpoint protection how to upgrade symantec endpoint protection how to uninstall symantec endpoint protection Example 2: # *ConcurrentModificationException Finds content with keywords or phrases such as: java.util.ConcurrentModificationExpection  Example 3: # introscope.enterprisemanager.metrics* Finds content with keywords or phrases such as: introscope.enterprisemanager.metrics introscope.enterprisemanager.metrics.live.limit introscope.enterprisemanager.metrics.historical.limit
?	The question mark symbol functions as a wildcard for a single character.	# "synchroni?e" Finds both "synchronize" and "synchronise".

 

 

Advanced search

You can also use the Advanced Search feature to refine your query. Just click the Advanced Search button or icon.

• With the exact phrase - Search terms are enclosed in quotation marks.
• With one or more words - Search terms surrounding the Boolean operator OR.
• Without the words - Search terms preceded by the Boolean operator NOT.
• Results - Increase the number of results up to 50.

 

Limitations

Special characters

Search ignores special characters, including the dollar sign ($), percent sign (%), periods, hyphens, forward slashes, and others. However, our search tool will find words around special characters, and provide relevant results in the majority of instances.