Two new SET commands increase convenience of STN searching
28. November 2008
SET SPELLINGS Have you ever wondered whether including spelling variations of certain terms (such as sulfur or sulphur and aluminum or aluminium) in your search query would improve the retrieval of your answer sets? Now you can be assured of maximum retrieval by employing the new SET SPELLINGS command.
With SET SPELLINGS ON, your search terms, including those with left and/or right truncation, will be automatically supplemented with spelling variants. In addition, when there is a common alternate term for your search term, that alternate term will be automatically added to your search strategy. Terms in this latter category typically are alternative words for the same object in English-speaking countries around the world. When SET SPELLINGS is used, separate postings for each version of the search term are provided, as well as a combined total for the postings.
In databases with search term charges, no additional search term costs are incurred due to use of SET SPELLINGS.
Examples:
=> S | SULFUR | |
394924 | SULFUR | |
9383 | SULPHUR | |
L1 | 400185 | SULFUR |
(SULFUR OR SULPHUR) | ||
=> S | ?ANESTHETIS? | |
386 | ?ANESTHETIS? | |
62986 | ?ANESTHETIZ? | |
130 | ?ANAESTHETIS? | |
516 | ?ANAESTHETIZ? | |
L2 | 63592 | ?ANESTHETIS? |
(?ANESTHETIS? OR ?ANESTHETIZ? OR | ||
=> S | WINDSCREEN? | |
261 | WINDSCREEN? | |
2619 | WINDSHIELD? | |
L3 | 2830 | WINDSCREEN? |
(WINDSCREEN? OR WINDSHIELD?) | ||
SET LHISTORY
If you have ever wanted to see a complete review of your search session right before you exit STN, you will find the new SET LHISTORY command helpful. Just enter SET LHISTORY ON and STN will automatically provide you with a complete session history at logoff (LOG Y and LOG H), including the STN databases searched complete with time and date stamps. The search history provided by SET LHISTORY ON is equivalent to that provided by DISPLAY HISTORY within STN.
Example:
=> LOG Y | ||
(FILE 'HOME' ENTERED AT 16:00:52 ON 11 NOV 2008) | ||
FILE 'CAPLUS' ENTERED AT 16:00:58 ON 11 NOV 2008 | ||
SET LHI ON | ||
S 108-78-1/REG# OR MELAMINE | ||
FILE 'REGISTRY' ENTERED AT 16:01:29 ON 11 NOV 2008 | ||
L1 | 1 | SEA 108-78-1/RN |
FILE 'CAPLUS' ENTERED AT 16:01:29 ON 11 NOV 2008 | ||
L2 | 11422 | SEA L1 |
L3 | 46295 | SEA L2 OR MELAMINE |
L4 | 584123 | SEA TOXIC? |
L5 | 387628 | SEA KIDNEY? OR RENAL? |
L6 | 20 | SEA L3 AND L4 AND L5 |
D L6 | 1-20 bib, abs | |
These two new SET commands are turned off by default. To make maximum use of them, you might want to set them on permanently by typing SET SPELLINGS ON PERM or SET LHISTORY ON PERM. To speed up your search process, you can use command abbreviations—SPE for SPELLINGS and LHIfor LHISTORY.
For more information about the SET SPELLINGS or the SET LHISTORY commands, enter HELP SET SPELLINGS or HELP SET LHISTORY at the arrow prompt in STN.