More search nonsense

[Andrew Neil]

Searching for "module" includes hits for "modulation" :face_with_rolling_eyes: :frowning_face: :thumbs_down:

 

Sure, it can be useful to have "fuzzy" searches like this when you're not quite sure of the term you need - but there really needs to be a way to limit searches to just the exact term entered.

Basic search options:

1. Any combination of 1 or more of the words entered
2. Any combination of all of the words entered
3. Only the exact phrase entered

[Tesla DeLorean]

Search here continues to be worse than useless.. I don't know how some of these things get deemed "Fit for Purpose"

5000 matches? Who's going to scroll through that?

Need Sorted by "Exact Match"

Ideally weighted by the number of hits against the pattern, and some kind of logic. Hide that unless "Advanced" if you must. Or do like DigiKey / Mouser and have suggested filters / limits, so the list can be culled to a page or two.

Like

module !Modulation

module (crypt, crypto)

[Andrew Neil]

---

@Tesla DeLorean wrote:

Ideally weighted by the number of hits against the pattern, and some kind of logic

---

I have never understood how this site evaluates "Best (sic) Match"! 

eg,

How on earth is a post containing only "modulation" a better match than the next two - which contain the actual search term?! :face_with_rolling_eyes: :frowning_face:

 

EDIT:

 

It's not doing something really *** like including the 'Related Content' in the search, is it ... ?

 

[Tesla DeLorean]

Honestly I'm way beyond the point of trying to rationalize this, it'll just cause me brain damage.

If Billy Madison designed a web search portal.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKjxFJfcrcA

Autonomy Unstructured Data Search? Could probably buy that from HP for a dollar..

Best Pricing, Best to Worst?

[BarryWhit]

Many sites don't want to spend the engineering on building and maintaining a really-good search engine. Instead,  they delegate searches to general engines like google, bing, duckduckgo, etc.

Paradoxically, it is fairly often the case that sometimes  even if the site provides a search functionality, you get better control by using external search engines.

 

You should be aware that all major search engines:

1. allow you to limit your search to a specific site (or even url prefix such as company.com/support)

2. allow you to search for exact phrases or terms (by surrounding in double quotes), and (at least) a boolean AND of same.

3. allow you to specify keywords to be found only in the 'title' html tag of the page.

4. and many more such "Search Query Language" tricks, which are well-documented, and fairly standard across engines. This functionality has been there for decades.

 

As an example:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site:https://community.st.com/+intitle:"module"&ia=web 

 

also, please excuse my momentarily hijacking the thread but, since you are prolific aid-givers on the forum, I'd like  to let you know of another useful (if unrelated) trick. When linking to a pdf file, you can modify the url so that those who open the link in the browser will be taken directly to a specified page 

For example:

https://www.st.com/resource/en/application_note/cd00167594-stm32-microcontroller-system-memory-boot-mode-stmicroelectronics.pdf#page=361 

 

I encourage you to spread the word to other posters on the forum, when the opportunity arises.

(ping @waclawek.jan you may find this useful as well)

 

P.S.

Note that ST is not disciplined about URL preservation. For DS/RM/Appnotes, the file you get from a given url changes when they release a new revision, which means page numbers as well as numbered table/figure/section references can be broken as well.

If you really want a permalink that will last decades, you have to link to an archived version of the file (for example, via archive.org). Otherwise, it's best to also include sufficient textual context of what you're referring to, so future readers have a chance of locating the same information in a different revision of the file.

 

 

[Lina_DABASINSKAITE]

Hello @Andrew Neil , all, 

Thanks for sharing this. We are aware of this pain point, but unfortunately, at this point of time, there is no way to narrow the the search only to an exact single term. 

Currently, these are the available search options: How to use Boolean operators and wildcards in searches

Once I will hear something about coming updates, I will let you know. 

Greetings,
Lina