Search syntax
| Search type | Example | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Spaces between words or AND (must be upper case) | urban park | A space is treated as an AND. These examples both search for urban AND park – a record must contain both words to be a match. |
| urban AND park | ||
| OR search – OR must be upper case | urban OR park | A record has to contain only one of these words to be a match. |
| Use double quotes to define a phrase search | "urban park" | A record must contain the exact phrase to be a match. |
| Negative searches | urban -park | A record must contain urban and must not contain park to be a match. |
| Wild card search |
Wild cards can be placed anywhere within your query term. Note that without a wild card, a word is treated as a full word search. For example, a search for kiwi will return only results where the word kiwi is used but a search for kiwi* will return results for kiwi, kiwifruit and any other word that starts with kiwi. | |
| antro* | Find records containing words beginning with antro. | |
| *diella | Find records containing words that end with diella. | |
| antro*ia | Find records with words that start with antro and end with ia. | |
| Field search | collector:Johnston | Specify the field name followed by a colon and then the search query. It’s important that the correct case be used for the field definition. Fields start with a lower-case letter, contain no spaces and use camel case for multiple words (see collectionMethod example). Any facet can be searched directly in this way. |
| collectionMethod:sweeping | ||
| collectionMethod:"malaise trap" | ||
| Context search | collectionEventContext:sweeping | This searches all of the text within the collection events. Currently collection event is the only context we have set up. Do you find this concept useful? Are there other contexts you would like to see set up? |
| Complex field and context searches | You can build complex queries using this syntax. | |
| class:liliopsida AND collectionMonth:January | Find all collections with the class Liliopsida that were collected in January | |
| class:liliopsida AND (collectionMonth:january OR collectionMonth:march) | Find all the records with class Liliopsida that were collected in January or March. | |
| Negative field/context searches | class:liliopsida -collectionMonth:january | Find everything with a Class of Liliopsida, but not collected in the month of January. |
| -country:"New Zealand" | Find everything without New Zealand specified as a country. | |
| -country:* | Find everything that does not have a country specified. | |
| Range searching | collectionYear:[1950 TO 1959] | Find everything from 1950 to 1959. |
| collectionYear:[* TO 1959] | Find everything before and including 1959. | |
| collectionYear:[1950 TO *] | Find everything after and including 1950. | |
| -collectionYear:[* TO *] | Find everything that doesn’t have a collection year specified. | |
| NB: The range displayed in the facets may be beyond that specified in these examples because some specimens contain multiple collection events. | ||
| Proximity search | "urban park"~150 | This returns as a match any record where the words urban and park occur within 150 words of each other |
Searchable fields
| Field | Related data field or description |
|---|---|
| abundance | Abundance of the collected taxon at the location and time of the collecting event |
| accessionNumber | Accession number |
| actionedBy | Actioned by |
| Actioned date | The date when an event or action occurred |
| altitude | Altitudes |
| associationType | Associations |
| botanicalDistrict | Geographic regions |
| class | Class |
| collection | Data provider |
| collectionDate | Start date |
| collectionEventCode | A reference code assigned to the collecting event, or the name of an expedition |
| collectionEventNote | Collection event note |
| collectionMethod | The method used to collect this specimen (e.g., trap, pitfall) |
| collectionMonth | The month derived from Start date |
| collectionYear | The year derived from Start date |
| collector | Collector |
| collectorsNumber | Collectors reference number |
| contributorReferenceNumber | For ICMP cultures, the reference number for the culture assigned by the contributor. This is derived from a (Specimen event). |
| country | Geographic regions |
| cultureViability | Viability |
| dateAdded | Database record added |
| decimalLatitude | The decimal latitude (WGS 1984) derived from Georeferences |
| decimalLongitude | The decimal longitude (WGS 1984) derived from Georeferences |
| determiner | Determiner |
| duplicateAccessionNumber | Duplicates |
| duplicates | Duplicates |
| ecologicalDistrict | Geographic regions |
| ecologicalRegion | Geographic regions |
| eventDateText | Actioned date |
| eventNote | Specimen event note |
| exsiccata | Exsiccata |
| family | Family |
| flagNote | Specimen flags |
| flagValue | Specimen flags |
| genus | The genus name associated with any identifications applied to the specimen |
| georeference | Georeferences |
| habitat | Habitat |
| hasImages | Calculated field, based on presence of images (values: true, false) |
| identificationDate | Determination date |
| identificationNote | Identification note |
| keyword | Keywords associated with collection events. For example: keyword:Forest* |
| kindOfSpecimen | Specimen Type |
| landDistrict | Geographic regions |
| last_modified | Specimen last updated |
| linkSource | Links. For example, linkSource:NVS* |
| linkValue | Links. For example, linkValue:"H-163" |
| loanStatus | An indication of the status of the specimen if it is on loan to another institute. For example, loanStatus:Active. See facet for other values. |
| localHeight | Local heights |
| locality | Verbatim locality |
| microHabitat | Microhabitat |
| nzAreaCode | Geographic regions |
| nzAreaCodeFull | Geographic regions |
| observedSpecies | Observed species |
| order | Order |
| organisation | The name or acronym of the institute to which specimens are on loan. For example, organisation:WELT |
| otherReferenceNo | Assigned reference numbers |
| otherReferenceNoType | Assigned reference numbers |
| phylum | Phlyum |
| preferredName | Preferred name |
| referenceNumberForActionedBy | See Actioned by |
| specimenNote | Specimen note |
| specimenNoteAuthor | See Specimen note |
| specimenNoteType | See Specimen note |
| stateProvince | Geographic regions |
| storageMethod | Storage method (for ICMP Cultures) |
| subcollection | The title for a named component within one of the main collections. For example the Allan Herbarium (CHR) has a Spirit (Ethanol) subcollection. |
| substrate | Substrate |
| taxonomicName | Determined name |
| transactionReferenceNo | The reference number assigned to a loan, gift or exchange |
| typeOfCollectionEvent | Collection event type |
| typeOfEvent | Specimen event type |
| typeOfFlag | Specimen flags |
| typeOfIdentification | Identification type |
| typeStatus | Type status |
| verbatimCollectionDate | Collection event date |
| verbatimCollector | Collector |
| vernacularName | Vernacular name |
| worldGeographicRegion | Geographic regions |
