Editing Help:Searching (section)

{{About|searching Wikipedia|navigating|Help:Navigation#Using the search box to navigate|adding a search input box|mw:Extension:InputBox|main search|Special:Search}}
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Wikipedia uses a [[#Under the hood|powerful search engine]], with a ''[[#Search box|search box]]'' on every page. The search box will navigate directly to a given ''page name'' upon an exact match. But, you can [[#Prefixed tilde character for forced search|force]] it to show you other pages that include your [[#Search string|search string]] by including a tilde character {{kbd|~}} anywhere in the query. The maximum search string is 300 characters long.{{efn|name=Phabricator|1=See [[WP:Phabricator|Phabricator]] task {{phab|T107947}} for an explanation.}} However, search can instantly search all {{NUMBEROFPAGES}} pages on the wiki when the search is kept to a simple word or two. 

Wikipedia's searches can be made domain-specific (i.e., search in desired namespaces). The search engine also supports [[#Special characters|special characters]] and [[#Parameters|parameters]] to extend the power of searches and allow users to make their [[#Search string|search strings]] more specific.

Advanced features of the Wikipedia search engine include multi-word proximity-searches (in which the user indicates how close the words in a phrase might be), wildcard searches, "fuzzy" {{kbd|~}} searches (handles typo-correction and questionable spelling), and several wiki-oriented operators and parameters for weighting and filtering. Search can also handle [[Help:Searching/Regex|regular expression]]s, a sophisticated exact-string and string-pattern search tool that is not offered by most public search engines.

Search can also filter results by template names used, [[WP:CATEGORY|category]] membership, or pages linking to a specific page.  

[[Special:Preferences]] offers several search options, and [[Wikipedia:Tools#Searching|Wikipedia:Tools § Searching]] offers the setups of other users.