Advanced Character mapping allows special characters to be used to formulate Boolean operations and advanced searching including:
- parentheses ( ) - nest boolean phrases Ex. (drug OR alcohol) AND abuse
- square brackets [ ] - search field tag qualification Ex. Smith J [au]
- ampersand & - Boolean operator AND Ex. Family & Nursing
- pipe | - Boolean operator OR Ex. drug | alcohol | substance
- forward slash / - MeSH/Subheading combinations
- colon : - indicates a range operation Ex. 2010:2020
- double quotes "..." - phrase search Ex. "intensive care unit" Note: using double quotes will negate any term mapping
- pound sign (followed by a number) #1 - designates a History search statement Ex. #1 AND cancer
- asterisk * - wildcard symbol for search term truncation Ex. Nurs* = nurse, nurses, nursing, nursery, etc.
More about character use in PubMed
