You can include the operators shown below when searching a field's term index. You cannot perform a comparison or range search on a field that is word indexed only.
| Operator | Meaning | Example |
| = | Equal to (exact match) | =local area networks |
| > | Greater than | >5500 |
| >= | >= | >=5500 |
| < | Less than | <1-Jan-1995 |
| <= | Less than or equal to | <=TX |
| : | Within range | 1993:1995 |
Tips
Use = to specify that a field must contain the information specified without additional text before or after. A search for =software in a descriptor field will find records where that word is a descriptor, but will not find records having descriptors such as computer software or software development. A search for software (without the =) will find those terms. (Note that in a DB/TextWorks textbase, a field can have multiple entries in a single record. For example, there can be several descriptors. A search for =software finds records where the word software is one of the descriptors.)
Greater than (>) means later than when used with dates and alphabetically after when used with text. Less than (<) means before with dates and alphabetically before with text. When used with a partial date, these operators search from the beginning of the date item (first day of the month or year).
A range consists of two values, low and high, separated by a colon. You can include or omit spaces around the colon. Ranges are inclusive (500:999 includes 500 and 999, and 1993:1995 in a date field finds all dates in 1993, 1994, and 1995).