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Command Line Search
Command Line searches enable users to conduct very specific and targeted line searches from any one of the Tyndale WorldCat search screens. To conduct a Command Line search you can add an Index Label as a prefix to one of your keywords.
Like the search limits in the Advanced Search screen the Index Label will tell the Tyndale WorldCat where to search for the terms in the record. For instance, if you are looking for C.S. Lewis' book "The Problem of Pain" you can use the following Command Line search for a title (ti:):
You can also combine one or more search term using the Command Line search. For instance if you know the title of the book and the author's name you can use the following Command Line search for the title (ti:) and the author (au:):
The following is a list of the most common index labels used by researchers in a Command Line searches:
| Index | Label | Example | ..... | Index | Label | Example |
| 0000 | kw: religion kw: education | |||||
| Keyword | kw: | kw: religion kw: education | Form/Genre | ge: | ge: graphic novel | |
| Author | au: | au: Chesterton, G.K. | ISBN (for books) | isbn: | isbn: 0140205926 | |
| Title | ti: | ti: Orthodoxy | ISSN (for journals) | issn: | issn: 1094-9054 | |
| Journal Source | so: | so: First Things | Publisher | pb: | pb: Zondervan | |
| Language of Resource | ln: | ln: German | Year of Publication | yr: | yr: 2012 |
To find out how to refine your search results please click Sorting / Limiting Searches
Boolean operators enable researchers to combine one or more search terms in their command line searches. The Tyndale WorldCat search engine utilizes the following boolean operators:
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Symbol | Description and Example |
| AND | + (plus sign) | Retrieves documents with all terms Example: "religion + education" searches for documents containing both terms "religion" and "education" |
| OR | | (pipe sign) | Retrieves documents with any single term or all terms Example: "teaching | instruction" searches for documents containing either/or and both terms "teaching" and "instruction" |
| NOT | - (minus sign) |
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Researchers can also use the following symbols to represent different alternative characters in their search terms. These symbols are called Wildcards and Truncations:
| Command | Symbol | Description and Example |
| L | ||
| Single character | # | Replaces a single character in a search term Example: wom#n = woman or women |
| Multiple characters | ? | Replaces multiple characters in a search term Example: colo?r = color or colour or colonizer |
| Truncation | * | Truncates the search term Example: Canad* = Canada or Canadian or Canadiana |
Now that we've covered the basics of searching for resources on the Tyndale WorldCat let's take a look at Sorting / Limiting Searches