Definition

• Stop words are small words that are
  • Not indexed.
  • Not searched on

Example Stop Words

• Typically, they are
  • Boolean operators (and, or, not)
  • Articles and other common words (a, an, in, of, on, to, the)
• The list varies upon how the searching is being conducted

Usage

• Normally, the software ignores the stop words even if you enter them.
• As an extension of this, you can not search for a stop word by itself.
• But, if you are searching for a phrase that contains a stop word, the database software will also find other phrases with other words in the place where the stop word is.
  • Example: A search for "feed the cat" will also find "feed a cat"