Connectors and Wildcards
|
Description |
Lexis+ |
Westlaw |
Examples |
|
Both Terms MUST be present |
and |
& |
LX: trademark and infringement |
|
|
|||
|
WL: trademark & infringement |
|||
|
Either or both terms must be present |
or (a space between words will be treated as an "or" only if no other connectors appear in the search) |
a space between words |
car or automobile |
|
or |
WL: car automobile |
||
|
Terms must be in the same sentence |
w/sent |
/s |
design /s defect |
|
w/s |
w/s |
||
|
/s |
|
||
|
all of these options are read as near/25 |
|
||
|
Terms must be in the same paragraph |
w/para |
/p |
trademark /p infringement |
|
w/p |
|||
|
/p |
|||
|
all of these options are read as near/75 |
|||
|
Terms must be within x words or fewer of each other |
near/x |
/x |
trademark /50 infringement |
|
/x |
x= any number up to 255 |
||
|
x= any number |
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
Terms must be within x words and in the order specified |
pre/x |
+x |
LX: search pre/3 arrest |
|
x= any number |
x= any number up to 255 |
WL: search +3 arrest |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exact phrase |
enclose in quotes |
enclose in quotes |
"res judicata" |
|
space between words |
|||
|
Exclude a term (literal exclusion) |
and not |
% |
LX: collateral and not estoppel |
|
but not |
WL: collateral % estoppel |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Nesting / Grouping Search Terms |
Enclose in parenthesis |
Enclose in parenthesis |
(dog and cat) or bird |
|
Expand root word by any number of letters |
! |
! |
liab! will find liable or liability |
|
* |
LX: liab* will find liable or liability |
||
|
Permit variation for a single character |
? |
* |
WL: wom*n would find woman or women |
|
LX: wom?n would find woman or women |
|||
|
|
|||
|
Permit variation for multiple characters |
? |
* |
WL: illustrat** will find illustrate, illustrated, but not illustrating |
|
Use the number of * or ? to stand for the number of characters (or fewer if at the end of the word) |
Use the number of * to stand for the number of characters (or fewer if at the end of the word) |
"res ipsa loquit*r" will find res ipsa loquitor or res ipsa loquitur |
|
|
|
|
LX: illustrat?? will find illustrate, illustrated but not illustrating. |
|
|
|
|
Res ipsa loquit?r will find res ipsa loquitor or res ipsa loquitur |
|
|
Plurals |
regular plurals, possessives, and some irregular plurals are searched automatically |
regular plurals, possessives, and some irregular plurals are searched automatically |
LX, WL: crime will find crime or crimes |
|
** Only plurals are searched if the plural is used |
WL: crimes will only search crimes |
||
|
|
LX: crimes will find crime or crimes |
||
|
Hyphenated Terms / Compound Words |
Hyphenated form retrieves all variations. |
Hyphenated form retrieves all variations |
LX, Wl: at-will searches atwill, at-will, or at will |
|
|
|||
|
Acronyms |
Include all possible variations. |
Use periods and include the spelled out variation. |
LX: irs or i.r.s. or "internal revenue service" |
|
WL: i.r.s. or "internal revenue service" |
Westlaw/Lexis Equivalents
