There are various options for searching for specific content. The search and therefore the result of the search is always controlled via the "Search term" field. When carrying out your search, please note the following tips:

Basics:

• Searches are not case-sensitive, which means you can use upper or lower case letters.
• Umlauts and special characters can be used in all searches.
• Words that occur frequently in texts are not taken into account during indexing and are therefore ignored by the search. These so-called "stop words" include: a, and, but, the, not, is, to - and similar words.

Special features of a "Simple search":

• Entering several terms for a search operation causes an "AND search" to be launched, meaning that only sites containing all terms will be displayed.
• Fuzzy search: you can perform a search for similar words by putting a "~" (tilde) at the end of the search term if you are not absolutely sure how to spell the word. "railon~", for instance, would also show pages on which "Railion", the freight division of DB AG, is mentioned.
• You can also use wildcards for your search. A "?" stands for individual letters, "*" for several letters. This means that if you enter "rai*" you will also find pages on which such words as "rail companies" or "railway station" appear.
• You can look for a group of words by enclosing them with quotation marks ("as has been done here").

Special features of an "Advanced search":

• Query "with the exact phrase": A search will be made for pages on which the words you have entered appear in exactly the same order.
• Query "with all of the words": This corresponds to a logical "AND" link. Only pages will be shown on which each of the words appear.
• Query with "at least one of the words": In this search, pages will be found on which at least one of the words being searched for appears. This search corresponds to an "OR" link.
• Complete the "Show results without the words" field if you are looking for pages on a subject, a specific aspect of which you want to ignore. This corresponds to a logical "NOT" link.
• Finally, you can limit your search to a certain area and period of time.
• The last two criteria limit the search area even further. You must decide here whether you only wish to perform a search in the headings or the introduction of a page, or whether you wish to perform a search throughout the entire text.