By default the search engine tries to locate pages which have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages which contain any words in your search query. If that happens a short message is displayed at the top of the search results indicating this has been done.

In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior.

1. phrase search
   The search engine supports three types of phrase search.
   • To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase
     Example: "chantry island restoration"
      
   • To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]
     Example: [volunteer bob]
      
   • To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words }
     Example: {lighthouse keeper Klippert}
      
2. + and - qualifiers
   If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.
   If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page.
   Example: +always -never
3. * wildcard
   If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match.
   Example: light*    (This will find all references to light, lightkeeper, lighthouse etc)
4. ? wildcard
   If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position.
   Example: b?g  will find things like big and bag.
5. boolean search
   You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters.
   Example: (contact AND us) OR (about AND us)