InfoTrac Databases: Limiting Searches by Dates Dates

InfoTrac Databases: Limiting Searches by Dates & Range Operators

Scope

Depending on the interface that a particular library has to Infotrac databases, you may be using one of the following to specify a range of publication dates for the articles that you are searching.
- Check boxes.
- Pulldown menus.
- Manual entry of date ranges.
Typically, you can limit a search to only include articles published on, before, or after a date or within a range of dates.

The rest of this page deals with manual entry of dates.

Enter the date in the "by date" field in the four main search modes (subject, Keyword, Relevance, Advanced).
"Range Operators" see below.can be used to indicate the range of dates for the documents that you may be looking for.

Date Formats

In the InfoTrac databases, publication dates are stored in the following format:
- yyyymmdd, where yyyy = year, m = month, and dd = day
- Monthlies and bimonthlies have a publication "day" of 00
  - Example: 19990100
- Annuals store both month and day as zero
  - Example: 1990000
You can, though, enter dates in a variety of formats, but do not use any format that contains hyphens " - "
- Valid Examples:
  - 1/31/2000
  - january 31, 2000
  - 31 jan 2000
  - 20000131
  - 1996

Range Operators

Range operators enable you to specify a range of dates when limiting a search by publication date.
Range operators must be used in front of search terms
- Example: after aug 1997 and R1 and engineer

OPERATORS

USAGE

since, after, g, >

Use any of these operators to specify that the records that you are searching for must have been published more recently than the date following the operator.

Example: after january 15, 1999

ge

Use this operator to find records that were published on or after the date following the operator.

Example: ge jan 15, 1999

before, l, <

Use any of operators to find records that were published earlier than the date that follows the operator.

Example: before 1/15/1999

le

Use this operator to find records that were published on or before the date following the operator.

Example: le 1/15/1999

to, - (hyphen)

Use any of these operators to specify that the records that you are searching for must have been published between two dates.

Example: da jan 15 - jan 31

Note: If you do not specify a year, the database will assume the current year.

OPERATORS	USAGE
since, after, g, >	Use any of these operators to specify that the records that you are searching for must have been published more recently than the date following the operator. Example: after january 15, 1999
ge	Use this operator to find records that were published on or after the date following the operator. Example: ge jan 15, 1999
before, l, <	Use any of operators to find records that were published earlier than the date that follows the operator. Example: before 1/15/1999
le	Use this operator to find records that were published on or before the date following the operator. Example: le 1/15/1999
to, - (hyphen)	Use any of these operators to specify that the records that you are searching for must have been published between two dates. Example: da jan 15 - jan 31 Note: If you do not specify a year, the database will assume the current year.