Full-text Query Syntax question

ElMiko · 10-20-2025, 12:27 AM

I'm trying to find all instance of the word "dreadful" when it is in close prximity to a quotation mark (i.e. all instances of the word dreadful when it is in dialogue).

Unfortunately, I can't seem to make heads or tails of the tutorial, which seems to indicate multiple ways to express the same search... none of which work.

I've tried:

Code:

... MATCH NEAR '("“" "dreadful", 25)'
... MATCH NEAR '("“" "dreadful")'
:= NEAR ("“" "dreadful",25)
:= NEAR ( "“" "dreadful")
= NEAR ("“" "dreadful",25)
= NEAR ( "“" "dreadful")

among others...

What am I doing wrong?

kovidgoyal · 10-20-2025, 12:32 AM

full text search works on words (it builds an index of words in the document). I doubt it will work when querying punctuation or other non word characters.

Comfy.n · 10-20-2025, 12:47 AM

Note that it's possible to run regex searches on EPUBs with Quality Check plugin:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...postcount=1204

ElMiko · 10-20-2025, 01:19 AM

Roger thatm Kovid. Incidentally, what's the right syntax?

Let's say I want to find "dreadful" within 25 characters of the word "said", for example?

@Comfy.n --- Oooo, that's interesting. I am definitely going to look into that.

10-20-2025, 12:27 AM	#1
ElMiko Fanatic Posts: 507 Karma: 65460 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	Full-text Query Syntax question I'm trying to find all instance of the word "dreadful" when it is in close prximity to a quotation mark (i.e. all instances of the word dreadful when it is in dialogue). Unfortunately, I can't seem to make heads or tails of the tutorial, which seems to indicate multiple ways to express the same search... none of which work. I've tried: Code: ... MATCH NEAR '("“" "dreadful", 25)' ... MATCH NEAR '("“" "dreadful")' := NEAR ("“" "dreadful",25) := NEAR ( "“" "dreadful") = NEAR ("“" "dreadful",25) = NEAR ( "“" "dreadful") among others... What am I doing wrong?

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10-20-2025, 12:32 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,609 Karma: 28549044 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	full text search works on words (it builds an index of words in the document). I doubt it will work when querying punctuation or other non word characters.

10-20-2025, 12:47 AM	#3
Comfy.n want to learn what I want Posts: 1,682 Karma: 7908443 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: none	Note that it's possible to run regex searches on EPUBs with Quality Check plugin: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...postcount=1204

10-20-2025, 01:19 AM	#4
ElMiko Fanatic Posts: 507 Karma: 65460 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	Roger thatm Kovid. Incidentally, what's the right syntax? Let's say I want to find "dreadful" within 25 characters of the word "said", for example? @Comfy.n --- Oooo, that's interesting. I am definitely going to look into that.

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