Search doesn't return matching entries if they start with not

ienosos · 04-05-2022, 03:01 PM

This is a weird little issue I found today when I was trying to search for a book title that had "not" as the first word in the title.

I didn't use a metadata prefix ( title: ) in the search so it applies specifically to a plain search.

I searched on the term Not Quite According to Plan and even though that was the exact title of the book in my library, it didn't come up in the results.

I knew that couldn't be right, so I messed around and figured out that this only seems to be happening when the first word in the search is "not" and it's not inside quotes (which I don't do when I'm just trying to quickly search for something, of course, because maybe I'm not sure it's the exact title).

I have several stories in my library that start with not so I was able to test it for a variety of books.

So, heads up, if you're searching for a book that starts with not, be sure to use a metadata prefix in your search or you might not get all the results. Not sure if this is intentional behavior or just an artifact of the code or whatever. Or maybe it's a known issue and I just didn't know about it.

ownedbycats · 04-05-2022, 03:11 PM

I believe it's intended behavior; I had similar issues when trying to find a book with "false" in the title.

chaley · 04-05-2022, 03:33 PM

If I understand you correctly you are talking about searching for a book with the title "Not What I Wanted" by typing those words in the search box. As in

Click image for larger version

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Views: 105
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ID: 193109

The behavior you describe is expected and correct. Similar things will happen if *any* word in the string is NOT, AND, or OR. That sequence of words above means

Code:

NOT
     What
AND
     I
AND
    Wanted

Said another way, it is "(not What) and (I and Wanted)".

If you typed in "Live or Let Die" (without the quotes) what you typed is interpreted as

Code:

    Live
OR
(
        Let
    AND
        Die
)

There is no other way to interpret bare keywords other than as keywords as long as calibre supports AND, OR, and NOT operators.

ienosos · 04-05-2022, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

If I understand you correctly you are talking about searching for a book with the title "Not What I Wanted" by typing those words in the search box. As in
Attachment 193109

The behavior you describe is expected and correct. Similar things will happen if *any* word in the string is NOT, AND, or OR.

Gotcha! Totally makes sense. I hadn't realized the basic search supported those. I just made the assumption that spaces were probably equivalent to AND.

It also explains the weird assortment of books that were the results of that search.

ienosos · 04-05-2022, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I believe it's intended behavior; I had similar issues when trying to find a book with "false" in the title.

~ worked on "not" too, I just gave it at try. Got the exact search result I expected when I searched for ~Not Quite According to Plan. Thanks.

04-05-2022, 03:01 PM	#1
ienosos Member Posts: 24 Karma: 568 Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: USA Device: Android phone, Android tablet	Search doesn't return matching entries if they start with not This is a weird little issue I found today when I was trying to search for a book title that had "not" as the first word in the title. I didn't use a metadata prefix ( title: ) in the search so it applies specifically to a plain search. I searched on the term Not Quite According to Plan and even though that was the exact title of the book in my library, it didn't come up in the results. I knew that couldn't be right, so I messed around and figured out that this only seems to be happening when the first word in the search is "not" and it's not inside quotes (which I don't do when I'm just trying to quickly search for something, of course, because maybe I'm not sure it's the exact title). I have several stories in my library that start with not so I was able to test it for a variety of books. So, heads up, if you're searching for a book that starts with not, be sure to use a metadata prefix in your search or you might not get all the results. Not sure if this is intentional behavior or just an artifact of the code or whatever. Or maybe it's a known issue and I just didn't know about it.

04-05-2022, 03:33 PM	#3
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,436 Karma: 8012886 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	If I understand you correctly you are talking about searching for a book with the title "Not What I Wanted" by typing those words in the search box. As in The behavior you describe is expected and correct. Similar things will happen if any word in the string is NOT, AND, or OR. That sequence of words above means Code: NOT What AND I AND Wanted Said another way, it is "(not What) and (I and Wanted)". If you typed in "Live or Let Die" (without the quotes) what you typed is interpreted as Code: Live OR ( Let AND Die ) There is no other way to interpret bare keywords other than as keywords as long as calibre supports AND, OR, and NOT operators.

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04-05-2022, 03:11 PM	#2
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,947 Karma: 74999999 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	I believe it's intended behavior; I had similar issues when trying to find a book with "false" in the title.

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