quick-search.doc

Quick Search Help Document

Updated 20 May 1999

All data sections plus FlyBase documentation can be searched with Quick Search. This option is intended to provide the experienced user with a quick way to reach relevant FlyBase reports. If you are a new user of FlyBase, we recommend that you use one of the data-section-specific searches, which will help you become familiar with the information available and how to best search for it. Links to each section-specific search are included below. If you don't know which data section is likely to contain the information you are looking for, Quick Search can be used to search all sections at once. Be aware, however, that this approach may produce a very large number of hits.

To use Quick Search: Select a section or sections to be searched from the scrolling menu on the left side of the tool (Genes, Aberrations, Clones, etc.). Type your search term in the 'All text' query window. Click on the 'Search' button to run the search. A list of reports or documents containing the keyword(s) your specified will be returned. Select an item from the list or use the options at the bottom of the page for bulk retrieval. Note that the default report displayed on your screen may be in Brief format and therefore may not display the section in which your keyword appears. From the Brief report, select the Full option under Report Content to display the full report. Use the Find option on your browser to locate your keyword(s) in the report.

The 'Symbol' query option in Quick Search is a short cut for users familiar with Drosophila nomenclature and searches only Genes, Alleles and Aberrations. Use the 'Symbol' query window only if your search term is the symbol for a gene, allele or aberration (symbols and synonyms will be searched). To find genes, alleles or aberrations by symbol, select Genes (for genes and alleles) or Aberrations from the data section menu and type the symbol into the 'Symbol' window. You must use the 'All text' window to find genes by full name and you must use the Transposon or Transposon insertions search to find these by symbol. For example, w is the symbol for the gene named white. Using w in the 'All text' window will produce well over 1,000 hits, while w in the 'Symbol' window finds a half dozen or so (w and W plus a few fusions and genes whose synonyms include w or W). Using white in the 'Symbol' window finds only irrelevant hits because the white gene does not have white as its symbol or as a synonym of its symbol but more than a dozen other genes do include white in their synonyms.

Formatting your keyword(s) (example keywords are shown in italics):

To broaden a search use * at the beginning or end of a partial word as a wild card. For example, a search of the Genes section for neur* in 'All text' will find all records with neuron, neural, neurological, etc. A search of the Genes section for dl* in 'Symbol' will find Dl, dl, Dll, dlmd, dlv, Dlw and a variety of other genes with a gene symbol or synonym that begins with dl.
To refine a search use multiple keywords. The default condition placed on multiple keywords is 'and'. If you specify multiple keywords without the conditions 'or' or 'not' the search will find all records that include both of the keywords you specified. For example, a search of the Genes section (using 'All text') for midgut CNS will find all gene records that refer to both the midgut and the CNS. A search of the References section for Wakimoto 1998 will find all Reference records that include these keywords in a reference's title, list of authors, citation or abstract.
To refine a search use multiple keywords with the condition 'not'. For example, a search of the Stocks section (using 'All text' because 'Symbol' functions only with the Genes and Aberrations sections) for ry[* not ry[506] will find all stocks that carry alleles of ry other than ry[506].

Section-specific field-aware searches