search limitations...minimum string length and exact matches

rwfisheriv

I'm trying to search for an exact two letter string against the top-level titles in my library. Using the basic search function against (title,creator,year) and using the search string in quotes (e.g. "AA") is the equivalent of %AA%...not what I want. Trying the same thing in the advanced search function (limiting to top-level items and title)returns absolutely nothing...even though there are clearly items containing AA as a stand along string in the title. Performing the same search using %AA% does work, however...but that isn't what I need.

Are there any search string modifiers I can try? The zotero documentation is a bit light on searches beyond the basics....

adamsmith

By "standalone string" you mean a string preceded and followed by a space? If so " AA " will do. If not, an example of both the string and a title that you would like it to match would help.

rwfisheriv

yes...I'm trying to search for a string bracketed by space (for example all titles that contain (space)AA(space), e.g. "qwerty AA blah blah blah". The " AA " suggestion worked like a charm in the basic search bar, but the use of quotes in the advanced search function does not work regardless of the length of the search string.

Thanks for the help, btw.

adamsmith

in the advanced search, you can enter the string with spaces but without quotation marks to the same effect.