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How does the search form work ?

You can use upper or lower case letters.

No account is taken of accented letters (Vénus and Venus are treated the same way).

The search engine has two indexing modes: for the complete text and for the textual context (title, head, text...).

The following examples illustrate the results obtained with character strings using the main boolean operators :

  • astronomy astrophysics : searches for lines which have at least one of these words - corresponds to the boolean operator *or*.**
  • +astronomy +astrophysics : searches for lines which have both words - corresponds to the boolean operator and.
  • +astronomy astrophysics : searches for lines which have the word astronomy but lists higher up those which also have the word astrophysics - corresponds to a mixture of or and and.
  • +astronomy –astrophysics : searches for lines which have the word astronomy but not astrophysics - corresponds to the boolean operator not.
    • Truncation can also be used:

      • astronom* : searches for lines with the words astronomer, astronomy, astronomical, etc...

      Finally, one can also search for phrases à la « Google » :

      • « Nuits des planètes » : searches for lines which have the exact phrase or expression.

      One can restrict the search to one of the main sections of the site using the roll-down menu: Observatory, Research, Education, Public Outreach, General Utility Services, History and Heritage, News, Library, Press Corner.

      The results are listed either in order relevance or in order of updates.

      The references in the sections are listed before the references in the articles.