Editing Full-text search (section)

{{Short description|Search using the full text of documents}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2012}}
In [[Document retrieval|text retrieval]], '''full-text search''' refers to techniques for searching a single [[computer]]-stored [[document]] or a collection in a [[full-text database]]. Full-text search is distinguished from searches based on [[metadata]] or on parts of the original texts represented in databases (such as titles, abstracts, selected sections, or bibliographical references).

In a full-text search, a [[search engine]] examines all of the words in every stored document as it tries to match search criteria (for example, text specified by a user). Full-text-searching techniques appeared in the 1960s, for example [[IBM STAIRS]] from 1969, and became common in online [[bibliographic databases]] in the 1990s.{{Verify source|date=October 2008}} Many websites and application programs (such as [[word processing]] software) provide full-text-search capabilities. Some web search engines, such as the former [[AltaVista]], employ full-text-search techniques, while others index only a portion of the web pages examined by their indexing systems.<ref>In practice, it may be difficult to determine how a given search engine works. The [[search algorithms]] actually employed by web-search services are seldom fully disclosed out of fear that web entrepreneurs will use [[search engine optimization]] techniques to improve their prominence in retrieval lists.</ref>