The IOSCO search utility uses query syntax similar to that used by many web search engines. Below is a description of some of the syntax that can be used.
Search terms
In the search box, you can enter words, phrases, and plain language.
Words
To search for multple words, separate them with spaces.
Phrases
To search for an exact phrase, surround it with double-quotation marks. A string of capitalized words is assumed to be a name. Separate a series of names with commas. Commas are not needed when the phrases are surrounded by quotation marks.
The following example searches for a document that contains the phrases "Public Companies" and "Private Equity":
"Public Companies" "Private Equity"
Plain language
To search with plain language, enter a question or concept. The IOSCO search identifies the important words and searches for them. For example, enter a question such as:
Where is the sales office in Madrid?
This query produces the same results as entering:
sales office Madrid
Including and excluding search terms
You can limit searches by excluding or requiring search terms, or by limiting the areas of the document that are searched.
A minus sign (-) immediately preceeding a search term (word or phrase) excludes documents containing the term.
A plus sign (+) immediately preceeding a search term (word or phrase) means returned documents are guaranteed to contain the term.
If neither is associated with the search term, the results may include documents that do not contain the specified term as long as they meet other search criteria.
Query syntax
Queries are interpreted according to the following rules:
- Individual search terms are separated by whitespace characters, such as a space, tab, or comma; for example:
credit rating
- Search phrases are entered within double-quotation marks; for example:
"credit rating" agencies
- Exclude terms with the negation operator, minus (-), or the NOT operator; for example:
mou signatories -Spain
mou signatories NOT Spain
- Require a compulsary term with the unary inclusion operator, plus sign (+); in this example, the term Spain must be included:
mou signatories +Spain
- Require compulsary terms with the binary inclusion operator AND; in this example, the terms credit and rating must be included:
credit and rating agencies