Help with extended search

The search form for extended search is available through the link "Extended Search" below the search field for "Basic Search" in the right-hand navigation area of any page.

The options for entering terms and linking them in the search field are the same as those of the basic search:

Links in the search field

If you enter several search terms, you may use operators between the search terms to allow a more complex search.
A blank between two search terms will automatically be interpreted by the search machine as an AND link. (e.g. entering two terms "term1 term2" means that "term1" and "term2" are searched for, i.e. both terms must occur in the document.)

Other operators that may be used between search terms are:

• OR = OR link (capitals required). Due to the ranking of hits by quality, the documents containing all search terms entered will always be shown on top of the hit list.
• AND = AND link (capitals required)
• NOT = exclusion operator (capitals required)
• Quotation marks " " = word group
• Brackets () = grouping
• * (asterisk) = any string of characters (not at the beginning of a search term)
• ? (question mark) = any character (not at the beginning of a search term)
• ~ (tilde) = search for similar terms (direct at the end of a search term)
• "+" and "-"(direct at the beginning of a search term)

The operators "+" and "-" may be used instead of AND and OR, although their meaning is slightly different. AND and OR are always put between two search terms, while "+" and "-" are put in front of individual terms. "+" means "the term must occur", "-" means "the term must not occur".
So the difference is the following: "a AND b" means: a and b must occur, "a +b" means: "a may occur, b must occur". The only difference between "-" and NOT is that NOT must not be put in front of the first search term, but always between two terms.

Examples of how to use operators:

Search expression: employees AND (national accounts)
Meaning: Search for metadata and documents in which both the term "employees" and the term "national accounts" occur.

Search expression: bureaucracy NOT BundOnline
Meaning: Search for metadata and documents in which the term "bureaucracy" occurs and the term "BundOnline" does not occur.

Search expression: (births OR population) AND demographic
Meaning: Search for metadata and documents in which either the term "births" or the term "population" occur in connection with the term "demographic".

Search expression: ((population AND migration) OR demographic) NOT foreigner
Meaning: Search for metadata and documents in which both the terms "population" and "migration" occur or in which the term "demographic" occurs, excluding documents in which the term "foreigner" occurs.


The extended search allows you not only to enter one or more search terms but also to apply further restrictions to the search:
1. Search

• Synonym search
  Synonym search searches not only the usual list of keywords but also the list of synonyms (lexical sequence of characters that has the same meaning as another lexical sequence of characters). Entering e.g. the search term "TMS" and activating the synonym search will also find documents containing the term "Travel Management System".
• Search from:
  Using the function "Search from:", you may restrict the search to the subject area in which you currently are with your main navigation. That subject area is indicated direct after "Search from:". (Please note: The function "Search from:" will be active only when searching within destatis.de. When searching in external sources (e.g. IS-GBE, GENESIS-Online), the restrictions will not be taken into account.)
• Direct search
  Through the links to direct search, you will get to the search forms of IS-GBE, Genesis-Online and the OPAC of the library of the Federal Statistical Office. 

2.  Search for
Under "Search for" you may exclude specific metadata areas from your search or limit your search to specific metadata. By default, the search will cover all areas.

Please note: The function "Search for" will be active only when searching within destatis.de. When searching in external sources (e.g. IS-GBE, GENESIS-Online), the restrictions will not be taken into account.

3. Further restrictions

• Publication date period
  Here you can limit your search to documents published in a specific period.
• Document types
  Here you can select the type of document, e.g. image or speech, which will be searched for.
  

Please note: The function of "Further restrictions" will be active only when searching within destatis.de. When searching in external sources (e.g. IS-GBE, GENESIS-Online), the restrictions will not be taken into account.

4. Search in
Under "Search in" you may include various external sources in your search. The search will then cover those systems, too.