Editing Help:Searching (section)

== Search results page ==
{{shortcut|H:RESULTS}}

The search results page looks just like the [[#Search page|search page]], with the results for your search query presented below it. {{crossref|pw=y|(For information on what can by typed into the search box, see [[#Search string syntax|Search string syntax]] above.)}}

The search results page is displayed when a search is done from the search page, when a search from the regular [[#Search box|search box]] does not exactly match a page title, or when any parameters or special characters are included in a [[#Search string|search string]].

=== Understanding search results ===

The search string entered will be displayed in the search box on the page, in case you wish to modify it.

Spelling corrections and query corrections are offered at the top of the results {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[#Preliminary reports|Preliminary reports]], below)}}.

Note that search results include content from templates displayed on the pages searched.

The order that search results are presented in is based on the page ranking software.

Results match word stems, along with their various tenses (past tense, plural tense, etc.), except for anything included between double quotation marks. {{crossref|pw=y|See [[#Stem matching|Stem matching]], below.}}

Throughout the results, matching terms are highlighted in bold. All matches in the title show for sure, while matches within the details may show, but not if they are far apart on the page.

Matches are included for section headings, members of matching categories, and destination pages of redirects. These will show off to the side of the page name, parenthetically.

A single result (one each) from selected sister projects appears on the right side of the page (the most likely relevant match for each). This feature may be permanently turned off in [[Special:Preferences|Preferences]].

Files from Wikimedia Commons are included within the results when the <code>File:</code> namespace has been selected. You can prepend search terms with <code>local:</code> to limit results to locally uploaded files.

==== Preliminary reports ====

Search results will often be accompanied by a preliminary report.
* '''There is a page named "{{font color|#0645AD|{{var|Page name}}}}"''' (a wikilink to an existing page)
* {{font color|#CC2200|Did you mean:}} {{font color|#0645AD|{{var|spelling correction}}}} (either a wikilink or a search-link)
* ''You may create the page "{{font color|#CC2200|{{var|New title}}}}"'' (a redlink to a new page name)
The ''Did you mean'' report corrects dictionary word spellings and gives a link that is either a wikilink that will navigate to an article or a search link that will perform a query. The distinction can be made by observing the presence of a ''You may create the page'' report.
Another report corrects "spellings" to coincide with any "word" found in a search index (any word on the wiki):
{{block indent|{{font color|#CC2200|Showing results for}} {{font color|#0645AD|'''{{var|query correction}}'''}}. {{font color|#CC2200|Search instead for}} {{font color|#0645AD|{{var|your query}}}} (two search links).}}<!--
--><section end="Search results page" /><section begin="Refining results" />

=== Refining results ===
{{shortcut|H:REFINE}}

The ''Search'' page is designed for presenting and refining results in a re-search loop controlled by modifying the query or the search parameters, such as namespace.

==== Namespaces ====
[[File:Wiki search namespaces.png|thumb|upright=1.25|By default only the Article namespace is searched, but these checkboxes can be used to add other types of Wikipedia pages such as talk pages or user pages.]]
[[WP:article|Articles]] are in the main [[Help:Namespace|namespace]], or "article space", but ''[[Special:Statistics]]'' will show that there are many times more ''pages'' on Wikipedia than there are ''articles'' on Wikipedia. Other ''types'' of pages are in other ''namespaces'', and these can be selected using the checkboxes that appear when expanding the section labelled ''Search in:'' under the search box.
* "{{int:advancedsearch-namespaces-preset-default}}": Only search encyclopedia articles (also called [[WP:MAINSPACE|mainspace]]).
* "{{int:advancedsearch-namespaces-preset-discussion}}": Search [[Help:Talk pages|talk pages]]. Some discussions are in the <code>Wikipedia:</code> namespace, which can be included by also selecting "General help" (which also adds help pages) or by selecting "Wikipedia" under "{{int:advancedsearch-namespaces-placeholder}}".
* "{{int:advancedsearch-namespaces-preset-general-help}}": Search the [[Wikipedia:Help namespace|<code>Help:</code> namespace]] and [[Wikipedia:Project namespace|<code>Wikipedia:</code> namespace]] (also called project namespace). The latter contains various types of pages including many help pages.
** Unfortunarely, there is no reliable way to exclude discussion pages from the results, but you can try adding to your query {{kbd|-insource:/\(UTC\)/}} (which would also exclude help pages containing "(UTC)"); or try something more delicate like [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=interwiki+wikidata+-intitle%3A%2F%5B0-9%5D%7B4%7D%7C%5BAa%5Dssessm%7C%5BCc%5Dandi%7C%5BPp%5Dropos%7C+%5BFf%5Dor+%7C%5C%2F%5BAa%5Drchive%7CRRA%7C%5BRr%5Dequest%28s%7Ced%29%7CR%5BFf%5DC%7CMeetu%7Cticeb%7C%28Recent+%7CiProj%7CMediat%7C%5BSs%5Dock+%3Fp%7Csancti%7Ceview%7Ctigations%7Cslation%7Ckf%7Ce+wee%7CUsu%7CGL%7Cse+re%7Cifun%29.%2A%5C%2F%2F&title=Special:Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&ns4=1&ns12=1 this] (which would also exclude help subpages of WikiProjects).
* "{{int:advancedsearch-namespaces-preset-all}}": Search every page on the entire wiki, for example also drafts and user pages.

Click "{{int:advancedsearch-namespaces-placeholder}}" to select [[Wikipedia:Namespace|namespaces]] individually. 

In order to fully interpret the search results page, check which search domains are checked off, but also remember to check for a namespace name at the beginning or a <code>prefix:</code> parameter at the end of the search box query. A namespace entered in a query always takes priority for determination of the search domain of a query, and will at any time override your default search domain, or any displayed ''profile''. A <code>prefix:</code> parameter at {{em|the end}} of a query in the search box, furthermore, will override any namespace there, or any ''profile'' underneath that. Equivalently, you could check the [[WP:URL|URL]] in your browser's address bar for profile and namespace parameter settings, because the search query was sent to the search engine by way of that URL.

==== Sorting ====
By default, results are ordered by [[Relevance (information retrieval)|relevance]]. The "Sorting order" control in the "Advanced search" section allows you to select two other sort orders: most recently edited, and most recently created.

An advanced technique is to manually modify the URL to achieve other sort orders. For example, adding <code>&sort=incoming_links_desc</code> to the end of the URL will sort pages with the most incoming links to the top, and <code>&sort=random</code> will randomly order results. For a full list of available sort orders, see [[mw:Help:CirrusSearch#Explicit sort orders]].