Searching CUK Forums

[cojak]

You can give it a go using the Search in the website, but don't expect much.

Google is your friend for this.

• Just add “site:forums.contractoruk.com” at the end of your search terms, and it will only look on here.

• To specify a particular forum add site:forums.contractoruk.com/forum-name/ "site:forums.contractoruk.com/umbrella-companies/".

(I know these instructions are in the newbies netiquette thread, but I think they're worth repeating).

[Sysman]

Ta, I didn't realise you can append the forum name.

[NickFitz]

If you include the thread ID (i.e. the number before the thread title in the URL, such as 58311 for this thread) then you can search individual threads. For example, find mentions of "smilies" in TPD by searching for site:http://forums.contractoruk.com/light-relief/4465 smilies

[cojak]

You never cease to impress Nick.

[NickFitz]

Another useful one is to use the "intitle:" modifier on your search. This can be combined with the usual search terms, and any of the options mentioned above. For example, a search for Monday Links threads which mention Frank Sinatra would be:

site:forums.contractoruk.com intitle:"monday links" sinatra

If Sinatra and links aren't your thing, a more relevant one might be something like:

site:forums.contractoruk.com/accounting-legal/ intitle:dividends "tax year"

which will focus your search on posts in Accounting/Legal that contain the phrase "tax year" and have the term "dividends" in the thread title, meaning they're likely to be about that specific topic.

It's probably overkill for a lot of cases, but it can be useful if you're trying to be really specific and a more general search is returning more noise than signal

[mudskipper]

Is there any way of searching for the same words within a single post?

e.g.

site:forums.contractoruk.com nickfitz smart arse

returns lots of irrelevant results.

[northernladuk]

Is there any way of searching for the same words within a single post?

e.g.

site:forums.contractoruk.com nickfitz smart arse

returns lots of irrelevant results.

You can put ""'s around the search term if you want to find a phrase.

Try the google search building. It will make the search for you so you can try different options.

Google Advanced Search

The results aren't irrelevant, they are all pages that contain those three words. I'm not really sure what you are asking. You can use an OR function between words or the '-' tp remove words.

[mudskipper]

You can put ""'s around the search term if you want to find a phrase.

Try the google search building. It will make the search for you so you can try different options.

Google Advanced Search

The results aren't irrelevant, they are all pages that contain those three words. I'm not really sure what you are asking. You can use an OR function between words or the '-' tp remove words.

I guess I was asking if you could search for two words that appear in the same post, but not necessarily together. I suspect the answer is no.

[NickFitz]

I guess I was asking if you could search for two words that appear in the same post, but not necessarily together. I suspect the answer is no.

If "appear on the same page of a thread" is acceptable, remember that a phrase, in the sense of a search term surrounded by double-quotes, can be one word long. So if you put each word in quotes individually:

site:forums.contractoruk.com intitle:"monday links" "apocalypse" <- 4 results


site:forums.contractoruk.com intitle:"monday links" "chicago" <- 11 results

site:forums.contractoruk.com intitle:"monday links" "apocalypse" "chicago" <- 1 result

[mudskipper]

If "appear on the same page of a thread" is acceptable, remember that a phrase, in the sense of a search term surrounded by double-quotes, can be one word long. So if you put each word in quotes individually:

site:forums.contractoruk.com intitle:"monday links" "apocalypse" <- 4 results


site:forums.contractoruk.com intitle:"monday links" "chicago" <- 11 results

site:forums.contractoruk.com intitle:"monday links" "apocalypse" "chicago" <- 1 result

That's the same as without the quotes. I guess it's as good as we're going to get. Can't think of a specific example, but thinking of when I've remembered a particular person using a word or phrase in a post.