14

I have discovered that some advanced search options take shorthand values:

  • "is:q" is equivalent to "is:question"
  • "is:a" is equivalent to "is:answer"
  • "infavorites:1" is equivalent to "infavorites:mine" 1

These are not mentioned anywhere in the Help Center or the "Advanced Search Tips" on the search page. No big deal, but knowing these might save a tiny bit of time typing up a query, so maybe these shorthand values could be mentioned in "How do I search?"?

1 Well, this is no new discovery, saw this a long time ago when someone posted it on Meta

15
  • 4
    Odd, I'd think infavorites:1 is only equivalent to infavorites:mine for Jeff Atwood, but you're right.
    – Arjan
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:09
  • @Arjan looks like you have to used a leading zero to search for Jeff's favorites: infavorites:01 Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:15
  • Luckily an octal 1 is equivalent to a decimal 1, @psubsee ;-) (But maybe that specific shortcut is not officially supported.)
    – Arjan
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:16
  • 3
    Might also want to mention user:me and the votes:min..max, votes:..max, and votes:min.. syntaxes (syntaxi? :P)
    – Doorknob
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:18
  • @Arjan actually I see it as a reason to not use 1 and 0 for boolean values :-) Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:21
  • 4
    HOW did they fail to mention votes:min..max anywhere? I had been writing SEDE queries to use upper limits, uptill now!
    – asheeshr
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:22
  • @AsheeshR I only knew about it because it was mentioned briefly in a meta post somewhere that I read once. Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:23
  • @psubsee2003 It is taking me a lot of restraint to not write in all caps right now. >:-(
    – asheeshr
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 11:26
  • @AsheeshR I can't find the post that I learned about it, but there's been some recent posts like: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/188781/… Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 12:02
  • Related: Add tips for Search by Range to the Advanced Search Tips Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 12:02
  • 1
    @Doorknob Actually, that info is already captured in the help center. I'm guessing you want it in the advanced search tips? Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 12:04
  • Ah, and the dash/minus to exclude terms is not mentioned either?
    – Arjan
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 12:06
  • @Arjan your are right, I saw "score" mentioned in relation to the range operators, but it isn't explicitly called out with all of the options. Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 12:18
  • @Doorknob, user:me is in the Help Center article, votes.. is not but it is synonymous to score which is mentioned in the article. Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 12:35
  • 3
    infavorites became obsolete in the meantime, but there is in:saves. See also: Bookmarks have evolved into Saves.
    – Martin
    Commented Jan 16, 2023 at 7:45

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .