Proximity
In the computer-aided search for complex content ( information retrieval ), proximity or word spacing denotes the distance between two words in a text. With the help of proximity operators (word spacing operators ), a search query can be restricted in terms of how far two search words can be in the text. This increases the precision of a search .
Example of operators
To define the distance: word1 WITHIN "m" "units" OF word2
- (unit = character, word, sentence, paragraph ...)
- Order operators : BEFORE, AFTER
- Adjacency operator : word1 ADJACENT word2
- word2 must come directly after word1