Documentation Source Text

The following block contains a summary of the FTS query syntax in BNF form.
A detailed explanation follows.

<codeblock>
&lt;phrase&gt;    := string &#91;*]
&lt;phrase&gt;    := &lt;phrase&gt; + &lt;phrase&gt;
&lt;neargroup&gt; := NEAR ( &lt;phrase&gt; &lt;phrase&gt; ... &#91;, N] )
&lt;query&gt;     := &#91;colname :] &lt;phrase&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := &#91;colname :] &lt;neargroup&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := ( &lt;query&gt; )
&lt;query&gt;     := &lt;query&gt; AND &lt;query&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := &lt;query&gt; OR &lt;query&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := &lt;query&gt; NOT &lt;query&gt;


</codeblock>

<p>
Within an FTS expression a <b>string</b> may be specified in one of two ways:

<ul>
  <li> <p>By enclosing it in double quotes ("). Within a string, any embedded
................................................................................

</codeblock>


<p>
A single phrase or NEAR group may be restricted to matching text within a
specified column of the FTS table by prefixing it with the column name 


followed by a colon character. Column names may be specified using either
of the two forms described for strings above. Unlike strings that are part
of phrases, column names are not passed to the tokenizer module. Column 
names are case-insensitive in the usual way for SQLite column names -
upper/lower case equivalence is understood for ASCII-range characters only.

<codeblock>
  ... MATCH 'colname : NEAR("one two" "three four", 10)'
  ... MATCH '"colname" : one + two + three'



</codeblock>

<p>
Phrases and NEAR groups may be arranged into expressions using <b>boolean
operators</b>. In order of precedence, from highest to lowest, the operators 
are:

The following block contains a summary of the FTS query syntax in BNF form.
A detailed explanation follows.

<codeblock>
&lt;phrase&gt;    := string &#91;*]
&lt;phrase&gt;    := &lt;phrase&gt; + &lt;phrase&gt;
&lt;neargroup&gt; := NEAR ( &lt;phrase&gt; &lt;phrase&gt; ... &#91;, N] )
&lt;query&gt;     := &#91;&lt;colspec&gt; :] &lt;phrase&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := &#91;&lt;colspec&gt; :] &lt;neargroup&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := ( &lt;query&gt; )
&lt;query&gt;     := &lt;query&gt; AND &lt;query&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := &lt;query&gt; OR &lt;query&gt;
&lt;query&gt;     := &lt;query&gt; NOT &lt;query&gt;
&lt;colspec&gt;   := colname
&lt;colspec&gt;   := { colname1 colname2 ... }
</codeblock>

<p>
Within an FTS expression a <b>string</b> may be specified in one of two ways:

<ul>
  <li> <p>By enclosing it in double quotes ("). Within a string, any embedded
................................................................................

</codeblock>


<p>
A single phrase or NEAR group may be restricted to matching text within a
specified column of the FTS table by prefixing it with the column name 
followed by a colon character. Or to a set of columns by prefixing it
with a whitespace separated list of column names enclosed in parenthesis
("curly brackets") followed by a colon character. Column names may be specified
using either of the two forms described for strings above. Unlike strings that
are part of phrases, column names are not passed to the tokenizer module.
Column names are case-insensitive in the usual way for SQLite column names -
upper/lower case equivalence is understood for ASCII-range characters only.

<codeblock>
  ... MATCH 'colname : NEAR("one two" "three four", 10)'
  ... MATCH '"colname" : one + two + three'

  ... MATCH '{col1 col2} : NEAR("one two" "three four", 10)'
  ... MATCH '{col2 col1 col3} : one + two + three'
</codeblock>

<p>
Phrases and NEAR groups may be arranged into expressions using <b>boolean
operators</b>. In order of precedence, from highest to lowest, the operators 
are: