TY - JOUR
T1 - On the use of negation in Boolean IR queries
AU - Klein, Shmuel T.
PY - 2009/3
Y1 - 2009/3
N2 - The negation operator, in various forms in which it appears in Information Retrieval queries, is investigated. The applications include negated terms in Boolean queries, more specifically in the presence of metrical constraints, but also negated characters used in the definition of extended keywords by means of regular expressions. Exact definitions are suggested and their usefulness is shown on several examples. Finally, some implementation issues are discussed, in particular as to the order in which the terms of long queries, with or without negated keywords, should be processed, and efficient heuristics for choosing a good order are suggested.
AB - The negation operator, in various forms in which it appears in Information Retrieval queries, is investigated. The applications include negated terms in Boolean queries, more specifically in the presence of metrical constraints, but also negated characters used in the definition of extended keywords by means of regular expressions. Exact definitions are suggested and their usefulness is shown on several examples. Finally, some implementation issues are discussed, in particular as to the order in which the terms of long queries, with or without negated keywords, should be processed, and efficient heuristics for choosing a good order are suggested.
KW - Boolean queries
KW - Concordance
KW - Distance constraints
KW - Negated keywords
KW - Query processing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=60249102664&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ipm.2008.12.003
DO - 10.1016/j.ipm.2008.12.003
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AN - SCOPUS:60249102664
SN - 0306-4573
VL - 45
SP - 298
EP - 311
JO - Information Processing and Management
JF - Information Processing and Management
IS - 2
ER -