Boolean search

(computer science) A search for selected information, that is, information satisfying conditions that can be expressed by AND, OR, and NOT functions.

A search for specific data. It implies that any condition can be searched for using the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT. For example, the English language request: "Search for all Spanish and French speaking employees who have MBAs would be expressed as follows. The Spanish and French comparison is placed in parentheses to treat them both as a single item.

  list for degree = "MBA" and

  (language = "Spanish" or language = "French")

In the example below, the parentheses are missing. In this case, anybody who speaks Spanish and has an MBA or anyone who speaks French, regardless of degree, would be selected.

  list for degree = "MBA" and language = "Spanish"

  or language = "French"

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Basic method of locating information in a data system such as LEXIS or WESTLAW by use of key words whose relationships are expressed by the logical operators AND, OR, and NOT. See search engine.