How to Use Advanced Search
MSRB’s powerful advanced search function allows you to refine their search results by using Boolean operators. For example, operators allow you to exclude words from your search or look for a word that’s near, but not next to another word.
Below are the terms accepted by MSRB’s advanced search, what they’re for, and example use-cases.
| Operation | Function | When to use | Example |
| “ “ | Exact phrase – Searches for the exact wording inside quotes | Use when you want to find words in the exact order, without variation | “continuing disclosure agreement → Returns only results with that exact phrase |
| && | AND operator – Narrows results to items containing both terms | Use when you need results that contain all specified terms | bond && disclosure → Finds results that include both “bond” and “disclosure” |
| ‖ (This character is usually above the Enter key) | OR operator – Broadens the search to items containing either one term or the other (or both) | Use when there are words or interchangeable terms and you want to capture either | Issuer || obligor → Returns results that mention either “issuer” or “obligor” so you don’t miss items that may use one term instead of the other |
- (Hyphen) | NOT operator – Excludes terms | Use when you want to exclude results that mention a specific term | Interest -taxable → Returns results mentioning “interest” and excludes those referencing “taxable” |
| ( ) | Grouping operator – Controls the order of operations by combining terms so the search engine knows which relationships to look for first, refining complex searches.
| Use when your search has multiple operators and you need to control how they are prioritized
| issuer && rating || maturity → Without grouping, the search engine reads this as (issuer && rating) || maturity, returning any item with “maturity” and those that include both “issuer” and “rating.” issuer && (rating || maturity) → With grouping, the search returns only results that contain “issuer” and either “rating” or “maturity,” making the search narrower and more precise. |
| ~n | Proximity operator – Searches for terms with n words of each other | Use when you want terms to appear near each other but not necessarily as an exact phrase | “market volatility”~3 → finds records where “market” and “volatility” appear within three words of each other |
| ? and * | Universal character – Acts as a wildcard to replace characters. “?” replaces one character; “*” replaces multiple characters | Use when you want to allow for variations in spelling or endings of a word | Issu*→ Finds “issue,” “issuer,” “issuing,” “issuance,” etc. rate? → Finds “rates” and “rated” (but not “rating”) |
| \ | Escape operator – Allows you to search for characters normally treated as operators | Use when you need to search for special characters (like hyphens or Boolean symbols) as plain text. | "protecting investors, issuers and the public interest,\" said Mark Kim." → Finds the exact phrase, in this instance a quote, and ensures the quotation mark is treated as such rather than ending the search after the word interest. |
