Appendix six: short-cuts summary
2004 version 2
24 May 2004
Summary of short-cut commands
Examples are given under each heading, and followed by notes.
Unlimited truncation
coronar$
Any number of characters replaced by $
Limited truncation
dog$1
Greatest number of characters to be replaced specified
Wild cards mandated
wom#n
Substitutes for one character within or at end of a word
Wild card optional
colo?r
Substitutes for one or no characters
Adjacency
cancer$ adj3 colon
(kidney or renal) adj (calcul$ or stone?)
Words need to be adjacent within specified number; and if a limit specified - in either order
Search a specific field
smart t$.au.
mild asthma.ti.
See Appendix 3 for full list of codes
Find specific index entry for a term
root population.ti.
Shows number of entries for the term
Find fields in which there is an index entry
root population
Shows fields where the term is indexed, and number of entries
Search a known MeSHterm bypassing mapping
coronary disease/
Alternatively uncheck Map Term to Subject Heading
Explode a known MeSH term
exp coronary disease/
Forward slash optional
Focus a known MeSH term
* wine/
Space or forward slash optional
Known MeSH terms with known subheadings
coronary disease/pc,et
See Appendix 5 for the full list of codes
Available subheadings for a MeSH term
sh coronary disease
Omit forward slash
Permuted index for a MeSH term
ptx coronary
Checks all words used in MeSH headings
Tree for a MeSH term
tree coronary
Hierarchical structure of MeSH
Scope for a MeSH term
scope coronary disease
Scope, and synonyms applied
Postqualification examples where 1, 3 etc are search set numbers
1/
exp 1
*1
1/pc,et
exp 1/pc
exp *1/pc
1.ti.
1 and 2
Can be used to add and remove subheadings or add alternate fields, explode or focus.
Combine groups of sets
and/1-6
or/1-5,7
Delete sets
..pg 3,5
..pg 3-6
..pg all
Sets associated with it will also be deleted
Change files
..c medl
use medl
Full list of filenames in the Ovid Field Guide
Limits
..l/1 lg=en
Limit 1 to english
limit 1 to review
No command syntax equivalent
..l/3 yr=1996
Limit 3 to the year 1996
..l/4 hu=y
Limit 4 to human
Save search strategy
..sv ps (TherapySensitive)
Save a search permanently
Execute saved search
..e TherapySpecific
Run a saved search
Display current search strategy
..ps
Displays search without associated results for printing
Logoff
..o
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