34 The Command Line - Introduction

 

  

The Command Line is a text input box at the top of the Search Window where you enter words and phrases to search and Scripture references to load. It is the primary means for do relatively simple searches on the Biblical text.

 

Doing Basic Searches

Wild Card Searches and Range Operators

Some Simple Examples

More Complex Word and Phrase Searches

Doing A Linear Phrase Search

Specifying Verse Context Limits for AND Searches

Specifying Verse Context Limits for Phrase Searches

Using the NOT Operator with Phrase Searches

Specifying Word Context Limits for Lexical Phrase Searches

Excluding Words from Searches in AND and OR Searches

Doing Regular Expression Searches

Doing Compound Searches

Cross Version Searches

Miscellaneous Command Line Items

Loading a whole chapter

Clearing the Command Line

Copying from Browse Window to Command Line

The Command Line Never Forgets

Limiting the Search

Searching for words with apostrophes

Smart Apostrophes

Command Line Context Menu

Looking Up Strong's Numbers Codes

Some Examples

Special Options

The Command Line Assistant

 

Doing Basic Searches

To do a search or display a verse you first place the mouse cursor over the Command Line. Then click with the left mouse button. This activates the Command Line. Then type the search parameters or verse reference on the Command Line and press the <Enter> key. The results of the searches that you do will be displayed in the Verse List Box below the Command Line and the text of verses you look up will be displayed in the Browse Window to the right of the Command Line in the center of the Main Window.

 

The basic idea is that you enter the word(s) you want to look up on the Command Line and press the <Enter> key. You precede the word(s) with a "control" character that specifies what kind of search you want to do. The "control" character is a period for AND searches, a forward slash for OR searches, a left parenthesis for COMPOUND searches, a single quote for PHRASE searches, and a semi-colon for LINEAR PHRASE searches. If you enter no control characters, the text is interpreted as a verse reference to look up or as a Command Line shortcut command.

The following table summarizes the types of searches that can be done on the Command Line. The # column identifies the control character that precedes the list of words.

 

Search Type

#

Example Search

What it does

AND

.

. word1 word2

Finds all verses which contain both word1 AND word2

OR

/

/ word1 word2

Finds all verses which contain either word1 OR word2

Phrase

'

' word1 word2

Finds all verses which contain word1 followed immediately by word2

Compound

( )

(.word1 word2)/(.word3 word4)

Used to do more than one search and combine the results

Linear Phrase

;

; word1 word2

Same as Phrase search except that it is faster for some complex searches

 

Wild Card Searches and Range Operators

 

You can use "wild cards" to expand the range of your search parameters. There are two kinds of "wild cards", an asterisk '*' which will match zero or more characters, and a question mark '?' which will match any single character. For example, the Command Line <.faith*> will find all verses with any word which begins with "faith". Hence, it will find verses with "faithful", "faithfulness", "faithfully", and so on. Since the asterisk wild card will also match zero characters, the search will also find "faith".

 

The question mark wild card, on the other hand, matches any single character. For example, <.wom?n> will find all verses containing "woman" or "women". Keep in mind that, in BibleWorks, you can use as many wild cards as you need to specify a search. You can even include multiple wildcards in a single word. For example, <.*belie*> will find verses with any word containing the subphrase "belie". Hence it would match "belief", "believing", "unbelieving", and so on. You can even use wild cards in phrase searches. For example, if you enter the Command Line <'belie* in god> the search will find verses with the phrases "believe in God", "believed in God", "believing in God", and so on.

You can also specify a range of characters to match. This is done by including a range of characters enclosed in square or curly brackets, in place of the character to be matched. For example, the Command Line <.wom{ae}n> would find all verses containing "woman" or "women". This has limited usefulness for English text, but for morphological searches it can be a powerful tool for specifying morphological limits. You can use either square brackets "[  ]" or curly brackets "{  }", but please note that because of keyboard conflicts (the letter ayin is on the ‘[‘ character), when you are searching for Hebrew morphological text, the curly brackets must be used in the lemma part.

 

One of the most important things to remember in constructing search specifications is that you can use as many wildcards (the * and ?) as you like, even in one word. Remember that the ? stands for any single character and hence will not match zero characters. For example, the search <.heaven?> will find "heavens" but not "heaven". The * on the other hand will match zero or more characters. So <.heaven*> will find "heaven" as well as "heavens" and "heavenly". So use ? when you want to require the presence of exactly one character in a particular place in a word. Also, keep in mind that terminating a word with an asterisk is a very powerful tool for picking up varieties of endings. It is indispensable in morphological searches where you want to pick up all secondary code endings. Many of the morphological coding schemes have the least significant codes at the end of the code and the * is a good way to pick them up without having to type them in. In fact it is probably a good practice to terminate all morphological codes with an asterisk * just for good measure unless you are looking for very specific constructions.

 

Some Simple Examples

 

This section contains some simple examples to help get you started. Keep in mind that they are only intended to introduce you to the procedures used to do basic English word studies with BibleWorks. The principles illustrated here can be used in all versions and all languages supported by BibleWorks, but there are more powerful capabilities specific to searches of morphological databases that are not discussed in this section.

 

In the discussion that follows, the angle brackets "<>" are not actually typed. They are just used here to indicate text that is entered on the Command Line.

 

How to look up a particular verse:

Rom 8:28

Enter the reference on the Command Line using the appropriate three-letter Book Name abbreviation  for the book name (see the Book Name Abbreviations section), or its user-defined alias and press the <Enter> key. Keep in mind that books (like Jude) which have only one chapter, must still have a chapter reference. For example, to look up Jude 4 you would enter <jud 1:4>.

How to find all occurrences of a single word:

.paul

Enter the word on the Command Line preceded by a period and press the <Enter> key. For example, <.paul> would find all verses containing the word "paul". 

How to find all verses containing two or more words (in any order):

.love god

Enter all the words on the Command Line, preceding the first word by a period, and press the <Enter> key. For example, <.love god> would find all verses containing both the word "god" and the word "love". Note that a lower case "g" is used to emphasize the fact that the search is not case sensitive. 

How to find all verses containing one or more words but not containing another word:

.jesus !christ

Enter all the words on the Command Line, preceding the first word by a period, and preceding the word (or words) that you want excluded by an exclamation point character. Then press the <Enter> key. For example, <.jesus !christ> will find all verses containing the word "jesus" but not containing the word "christ".

How to find all verses containing any or all of several words (in any order):

/faith works

Enter all the words on the Command Line, preceding the first word by a slash "/" character. For example, </faith works> will find all verses that contain either the word "faith" or the word "works" (or both).

How to find all verses containing a specified phrase (i.e. a series of words in a specific order):

'and god said

Enter the phrase on the Command Line preceded by a single quote and press the <Enter> key. For example, <'and god said> would find all verses containing the phrase "and god said". Note that the single quote is placed only at the beginning of the phrase, and not at the end.

How to find all verses that contain one word and another word within three verses:

.faith works;3

Enter the two words on the Command Line, preceding the first word with a period, and appending a semicolon to the last word, followed by the numeral 3. For example, <.faith works;3> would find all verses with the word "faith" and the word "works" within three verses.

How to find all verses with two specific words separated by any other word:

'faith * christ

Enter the two words on the Command Line, preceding the first word with a single quote, and placing an asterisk between them. For example,
<'faith * christ> would find all verses with "faith in Christ" and "faith of Christ". Note that this is a phrase search. You must begin the search with a single quote, not a period or slash.

How to find all verses with two words within three words of each other

'love *3 god

Enter the two words on the Command Line, preceded by a single quote and separated by the phrase "*3". For example, <'love *3 god> will find all verses with the word "love" and the word "god" (in that order) with three or fewer words intervening.

How to find all verses with a specified phrase but excluding phrases with certain words:

'jesus !the christ

Enter the phrase on the Command Line, preceded by a single quote, placing an exclamation point in front of each word that you want excluded. For example <'jesus !the christ> would find "jesus was christ" but would not find "jesus the christ". 

How to limit the search to a range of books or verses:

limits rom 1:1-10

If you select Search | Select Search Limits from the main menu, or click on the Command Line Options button a window will open up to permit you to set limits on the search. One part of this window contains a check-box for each book contained in any Bible version. You can limit searches to a particular book simply by checking and unchecking these boxes. Or you can limit the search by entering a phrase specifying the limits more exactly.  You can also set limits by entering a Command Line shortcut.

 

More Complex Word and Phrase Searches

 

The Command Line contains a wide range of search options, some of which can be quite complex. We have tried to suit the needs of the advanced scholar as well as those of the occasional user. Many people will find that the simpler procedures outlined in the preceding section are sufficient for all their needs. Try them and if they give you the information that you need, you can skip the next section until you find that you need to do more complex searches. A summary of the more complex BibleWorks Command Line search options is given in the following paragraphs.

 

Doing A Linear Phrase Search

 

The phrase search described in the previous section is actually done in the following manner: a lexical lookup is done for all the words involved and a list of all verses containing all of the words is constructed (an AND search). Then a phrase search is done on those verses for the specified phrase. In other words, an AND search is done first to limit the number of verses on which a phrase search is to be done. If your search parameter contains a lot of difficult wildcards or lemma matching parameters (see below), it might be faster just to search the entire Bible for the phrase, verse by verse. This is done simply by replacing the single quote by a semicolon. So the previous search would look like this: <;and god said>. Ordinarily, the lexical method is at least a thousand times faster, making linear phrase searches inappropriate, but if you are doing lemma matching searches (see below), it is a virtual necessity. For phrase searches across verse boundaries, linear phrase searches are also necessary. Do not confuse the semicolon used to initiate a linear phrase search with the semicolon used to append verse context parameters to search phrases. This is discussed below.

 

Specifying Verse Context Limits for AND Searches

 

For "AND" searches you can widen the search by specifying a verse context. This indicates the number of verses within which the specified words must be to be included in the match. To specify a verse context you append the number to the search phrase, separated by a semicolon. For example, if you enter the Command Line <.grace faith;4> all verses which contain the words "grace" and "faith" within four verses of each other will be located. The Command Line <.paul silas;10> would find all verses that contain the word "Paul" and the word "Silas" within 10 verses of each other. The default search context is zero, which means that all words must fall in a single verse for a valid match.

 

Specifying Verse Context Limits for Phrase Searches

 

If you need to specify a verse context for a phrase search, you must do a linear phrase search, not a lexical phrase search. That is, the search is initiated by a semicolon, not a single quote. Verse context limits are not permissible for lexical phrase searches. You specify the verse context in the same way as for AND searches, i.e. by appending the range to the search phrase preceded by a (another) semicolon. For example, the Command Line <;the earth and the earth;2> would find, in the KJV version, Gen 1:1. Further, a GNM search <;de *50 oude;3> would find all GNT passages which contain de followed by oude no more than 50 words apart across a three-verse span.

 

Using the NOT Operator with Phrase Searches

 

When you do phrase searches, you can precede words with the NOT operator (an exclamation point) to indicate a match with any word except the one specified. For example the Command Line <'!the god> will find all verses that contain the word "god" without the word "the" immediately preceding. This can be useful in Greek, for example, in finding anarthrous (i.e. without the article) noun forms.

 

Specifying Word Context Limits for Lexical Phrase Searches

 

For phrase searches you can refine your search by specifying how many words can occur between your search words for a match to occur. This is done by using the asterisk operator discussed above, but in this case not as a part of a word. A single asterisk, standing by itself will match any word and multiple asterisks separated by blanks are used to represent a specific number of words. For example, entering the Command Line <'* and * of god> will find phrases like "counsel and foreknowledge of God", and "goodness and severity of God", and "gifts and calling of God", and "wisdom and knowledge of God", and so on. And the search phrase <'jesus * * christ> would match "Jesus is the Christ".

The single or multiple sequential asterisks match either one or a definite number of unspecified words, but there are times when you want to find matches within a certain range of words. This is done simply by appending a number to the asterisk. For example, the Command Line <'grace *5 faith> will find all verses containing the word "grace" followed by the word "faith" with 5 or fewer words in between. If you are doing a lexical phrase search, the words must all be in the same verse. If you want to search for phrases that fall across verse boundaries, you must do a linear search, as discussed previously.

 

Excluding Words from Searches in AND and OR Searches

 

Sometimes you want to search for a particular pattern, but you want to eliminate verses that contain a certain word or pattern. In order to do this you precede the word that you want to exclude by an exclamation point character '!'. For example, the Command Line <.paul silas !barnabas> would find all verses that contain "Paul" and "Silas", but which do not contain the word "Barnabas". This is why this kind of specification is called a "NOT" operator.

 

Doing Regular Expression Searches

 

Regular expressions are a way to specify search criteria that are in many respects very similar to those used by BibleWorks. It has "wild card" characters and a host of other operators, just as BibleWorks, but can be much more confusing and complicated. There are very few useful things that you can do with regular expression searches that cannot be done faster and easier with the BibleWorks search criteria operators discussed previously. BibleWorks does, however, have the ability to do verse-based regular expression searches, for those hardy souls that want or need to use it. It is at present implemented only for English text. To do a regular expression search, you enter the search criteria preceded by a tilde ‘~’. For example, if you enter the Command Line <~And God said> a search will be made for all verses that contain the 12 letters "And God said". Remember that regular expression searches are, unlike most BibleWorks normal searches, case sensitive. If, for example, you wanted to find all occurrences of "god" (with a lower case 'g') you could enter <~god>. A table of supported regular expression operators is located in Regular Expression Syntax Summary.

 

Doing Compound Searches


You can do multiple searches like the ones discussed in the previous examples and specify how they are to be combined. To do this, enter the search parameters for each search as before, but enclose it in parentheses. Then each set is separated by a character to specify how it is to be combined with previous searches. The separator is a period for AND combinations, a forward slash for OR combinations and an exclamation point for NOT combinations. You can include verse context specifications for each sub-search, as well as for the combinations. For example,


<(.grac* work*;5).15(/jesus christ)>

 

would find all verses with words of the form "grac..." AND words of the form "work..." occurring within 5 verses AND all verses with either the word "jesus" OR "christ" if the verses in the two groups occur within 15 verses of each other.

Note that the order of the subsearches in this example is significant. If the subsearch "(/jesus christ)" is specified last, the verse List Box will only have the verses that actually had the words "jesus" or "christ" that fulfilled the search criteria. Conversely, if the subsearch "(.grac* work*;5)" is placed last, only the verses that actually had "grace" and/or "works" that fulfilled the search criteria will be shown in the verse List Box.

 

Cross Version Searches

 

You can perform Command Line Searches across multiple versions. To do this you first set the appropriate search mode by accessing the Cross Versions Search Mode menu. It is located on the Command Line context menu and also on the main menu at Search | Cross Versions Search Mode.

The options are:

Note that because the Cross Version search mode deals with multiple versions, you must be in Multiple Version mode to use the feature. After you set on of the above search modes and do a search the results per version will be shown in a popup menu.

 

Note that a version is considered to be a display version if it is checked to appear in the Browse Window, even if it cannot display because of book incompatabilities with the search version. For example, if I have BGT and JOS checked as display versions, but have BGT as the search version, JOS will not display in the Browse Window. But JOS is still considered to be a display version. This can be useful in all sorts of cross-version searching whether using the Command Line or the Related Verses Tool or Phrase Matching Tool. But if I search on the word KAI in the BGT using "Search all same language display versions" using the Cross-Version Searching Mode and BGT and JOS as display versions, the popup results window lists both the BGT and the JOS. Clicking on BGT loads those results in the Search Window, and the clicking on JOS loads those results in the Search Window.

 

Miscellaneous Command Line Items

 

Loading a whole chapter

 

If you want to read in a whole chapter in Multi-Version Mode, but do not know how many verses are in it, simply enter the book and chapter. BibleWorks will fill in the verse range for you. If you want to load all the verses in a Chapter beginning with some verse other than one, just enter a large number for the second part of the reference and BibleWorks will provide the correct number. For example, entering "mat 1:2-99" will load the whole of chapter one of Matthew beginning at verse 2. You can load ranges larger than a chapter just by entering the range (e.g. Rom 1:1-4:3). But ranges loaded this way cannot span books and cannot contain more than a few chapters. If you want to save very large sections of text to disk the best procedure is to call up the Export window, which is accessed via the Main Menu Tool | Export Database option.

 

Clearing the Command Line

 

If you have a lot of text on the Command Line and you want to clear it before entering search parameters, there are several ways to proceed. Pressing the <Esc> key or clicking on the Command Line with the right mouse button and choosing the "Clear Command Line" option will clear the line entirely. To clear part of the line, click and drag with the left mouse button to highlight the portion that you want to delete. Then press the <Del> key.

 

The Command Line has a context menu option titled "Save Command Line".  When you choose this option a Window will open so you can enter a file name. It saves the current command line search, as displayed on the command line, to a file with a BWC extension. It also saves accent and vowel point search option settings for Hebrew and Greek versions. You can reload the search by dragging it from the Windows Explorer, Desktop, etc. to the BibleWorks Main Window. This will cause the command to be loaded and run, with the saved accent/vowel point/qere-kethib settings.  This option is intended mainly for helping people with searches. Now we can mail a search to someone and all they have to do is open up their mail message and drag the attachment to the BW main window. That way we know that it is being typed exactly as we intended. It is also a convenient way for you to send us searches that you are having trouble with.

 

Copying from Browse Window to Command Line

 

You can copy a phrase to the Command Line simply by clicking and dragging with the LEFT mouse button to highlight the text, then clicking on the highlighted text with the RIGHT mouse button. A menu will pop up and you can choose the option to "Copy Selected Text | Copy Phrase to the Command Line".

 

The Command Line Never Forgets

 

If you typed in a long string of words and made a mistake, you don't have to retype the whole thing. Just press the UP or DOWN arrow keys, to cycle through previous commands. They can then be edited and/or executed by pressing the <Enter> key. Keep in mind that the Command Line remembers more than just the word. It also remembers the version used to look it up. Cycling back through previous commands will also cause the default search version to be changed to the version active when you entered the line.

 

Limiting the Search

If you want to limit the search to specific books or verses, click on the  button below the Command Line and select "Choose Search Limits" from the popup menu.

 

Searching for words with apostrophes

 

You should keep in mind that very few of the databases in BibleWorks distinguish between an apostrophe and a closing single quote. In most cases the databases were built correctly and the Version Database Compiler correctly made the distinction between an apostrophe and a single quote by examining the context. But this cannot be done perfectly. What this means is that there may be a few cases where a word ending in s' is not properly indexed (e.g. sons', daughters' ). It also means that when you highlight a phrase in the Browse Window and use the context menu to look up the phrase, you may have to edit the resulting text when it is copied to the Command Line. The code cannot infallibly determine whether s' is a plural possessive or the end of a quoted or emphasized phrase. This is not a huge problem and most users will never run into it. In most versions an s' followed by a blank is always a plural possessive and the program recognizes that. However a couple of modern versions like the NIV and NLT use single quotes for 'emphasis' and these may not always be distinguishable.

 

Smart Apostrophes

 

As a "fail-safe" solution to the problems described above, we have also implemented a new option called "smart apostrophes." You can activate it by selecting the Tools | Options | General | Flags | command Line Search Options | Enable Smart Apostrophes check box. If this is turned on apostrophes will not be treated as significant in English searches. For example <.sinner's>, <.sinners> and <sinners'> will all yield the same results, namely the hits from all three cases. This will insure that you aren't missing any verses. We emphasize that this is just a fail-safe feature and is not necessary for most people. Activate it if you want and it will not slow down searches appreciably. Searches initiated by clicking on a Word List are not affected (this permits you to look up the individual variants easily without turning off the feature).

 

The Command Line Context Menu

 

When you right click on the Command Line the Command Line Context Menu will open. It has the following options:

Looking Up Strong's Numbers Codes

 

If you have activated the "Show Strong's Numbers" display (using the Browse Window Options  button), Strong's reference numbers and TVM (tense, voice, mood) codes will be displayed with the text when you display the KJV version, or any of the other versions tagged with Strong's codes (RWB, RST, LUO,  MNT, SVV, or LSG). You can look up the Thayer/BDB definitions associated with a particular number simply by passing the mouse cursor over the number. To open the Strong's/Thayer/BDB window, click on the number with the RIGHT mouse button. When the context menu appears, choose the option to "Lookup Thayer/BDB Definition". The Strong's/Thayer/BDB window will then be displayed which will allow you to view that or any other Strong's reference and its associated Thayer/BDB definition.

 

Note that Old Testament (i.e. Hebrew/Aramaic) reference numbers have a zero in front of the number. This becomes important if you want to look up all the occurrences of a certain Strong's number. To do that all you have to do is make sure that your active search version is the KJV version. Then enter the appropriate number on the Search Window Command Line, preceded by a period. If you are looking up a Hebrew word, precede the number by a zero.

 

Doing Searches on Strong's Numbers

 

BibleWorks is now able to do Strong’s numbers delimited word searches. This allows users with limited knowledge of Greek and Hebrew to work with the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words in certain English versions (KJV, NAS and NAU and some non-English versions) tagged with Strong’s numbers.

 

The four most important applications of this feature are:

 

§         The ability to search on English and Greek words at the same time. For example, the search .lord@2962 will find all verses where "lord" translates the Greek word "ku,rioj". This excludes from the search any verse where "lord" is used to translate a term other than "ku,rioj". Boolean, phrase and wild card searches are also permitted and words and Strong’s numbers can be combined and used as part of the search parameters.

§         The opportunity to study how different translation committees have chosen to render any particular word or sentence in a given context. This way one can easily see and evaluate the philosophy followed in each case.

§         The possibility to find "untagged" words (i.e., words that are not found in the original text). These words are often implicit in the original, or else are simply supplied in the English translation for stylistic reasons.

§         The ability to do studies of word groups "associated" with a particular Strong's number when the option "Extend <> Tags to All Words" is on (see below).

 

Some Examples

 

The syntax used for Strong’s-based searches is straightforward. The "at" sign (@) is used to indicate that the numbers following it are a Strong's tag for the preceding word. For example:

 

§         .man@444 will find all verses where "man" is used to translate "a;nqrwpoj".

§         .man@!444 will find verses containing "man" when it does not translate "a;nqrwpoj".

§         .!man@444 will find occurrences of "a;nqrwpoj" that have not been translated as "man" (e.g., any, anyone, child, enemy, everyone, fellow, friend, human, etc.).

§         .man@- will find all the untagged occurrences of "man".

§         .man@* will find all occurrences of "man" tagged with any Strong’s number.

§         .*@444 will find all the different English words used to translate "a;nqrwpoj" (e.g., man, men, people, man's, human, mankind, others, etc.).

§         .*@[1234567890]* will find all the words tagged with some Strong’s number.

§         .*@- will find all the untagged words.

§         .*@444 *@435 will find all verses with "a;nqrwpoj" AND "avnh,r".

§         /*@444 *@435 will find all verses with "a;nqrwpoj" OR "avnh,r" (or both).

§         (/*@444 *@435).!(.*@444 *@435) will find all verses with "a;nqrwpoj" OR "avnh,r" (but not both). Note that this is a XOR (exclusive OR) search.

§         'lord of *@06635 (i.e., lord of hosts), will find all occurrences of the phrase "tAab'c. hw"hy>".

§         '*@03068 of *@06635 (same as above) will also find all occurrences of the phrase "tAab'c. hw"hy>". But note that this search will find more verses because the English versions sometimes translate the Hebrew as "God of hosts". In other words, Strong’s number 03068 is translated as "lord", "lord’s", "god", "Jehovah", etc.

Special Options

 

The Options | General | Flags | Command Line Searches section has an option labeled "Extend <> Tags to All Words". If this option is enabled Strong's Numbers are associated, not just with the immediately preceding word, but all words up to the previous Strong's Number.

 

The setting of this flag affects the way Strong's searches are processed in the following manner:

 

§         If this option is NOT enabled (the default setting) then the search word@#### will find all occurrences of "word" which are immediately followed by a tag <####>. Also, if the box is not checked, all words not having a tag before them will be marked internally with a dash ‘-’ as a Strong's number. For both check box states, words at the end of a verse which don't have a following Strong's number, will be tagged internally with a ‘-’. These dashes can then be searched on. For example if the check box is not checked, *@- will find all words at the end of a verse or words not immediately before a Strong's number (i.e., untagged words).

 

§         If this option IS checked then all words preceding a <> tag will be treated as if they had the tag themselves. In effect the tag is "extended" to cover all preceding words up to the previous Strong’s number. Hence word@#### will find all occurrences of word in which the next Strong’s number (however many words away that is) is ####. What this does is allow you to study the range of words preceding a Strong’s number without limiting it to just the one before.

 

The following examples taken from the NAU will illustrate the difference between the two options:

 

Search

Extend < > Tags Off

Extend < > Tags On

.lord@2962

638 hits in 595 verses

639 hits in 595 verses

.!lord@2962

84 hits in 79 verses

1246 hits in 615 verses

.man@444

321 hits in 289 verses

321 hits in 289 verses

.man@!444

1875 hits in 1678 verses

1875 hits in 1678 verses

.man@-

97 hits in 95 verses

1 hit in 1 verse

.man@*

2196 hits in 1959 verses

2196 hits in 1959 verses

 

The Command Line Assistant

 

The Command Line Assistant (CLA) can be activated from the Button Bar via the button shown to the left. This button is not visible by default and must be added by means of the Button Bar Configuration Tool.

 

Purpose


The CLA provides a menu-driven interface for doing moderately complex Command Line word searches in BibleWorks. Some people also find it to be a useful way to learn how to use the Command Line.

 

The Command Line Assistant will enable you to do complex searches by describing the search in simple English language terms. You choose the type of search you want to do by choosing from drop-down List Box options. Then you enter the words to search for and click on "Lookup".


Layout


The Assistant consists basically of an elongated text box where you enter words to look up. The words are entered separated by spaces. There is also a drop-down list box with which you choose the kind of search you want to do. Essentially all you do is enter the words and select the option that describes the search you want to do. If you click on the "Compound Search" check box, two additional entry windows will open up. Using these you can do three searches at once. There is a list box at the bottom which you use to determine how the results of the three searches are to be combined to provide final results.


The text boxes should contain nothing but words (with wild cards), with the possible exception of "not" characters which can be placed in front of individual words by pressing the "Not" button. The export button will export the search parameters to the Command Center Command Line where you can edit them further. Note also that the Command Line Assistant window can be resized to provide longer text entry lines.


The list boxes for individual searches provide the following options:

 

  1. All of these words in any order (this is equivalent to an "AND" search)
  2. Any of these words in any order (this is equivalent to an "OR" search)
  3. None of these words (this is equivalent to a "NOT" search)
  4. All of these words in this order (lex) (this is equivalent to a "Phrase" search)
  5. All of these words in this order (line) (this is equivalent to a "Phrase" search)


The difference between 4 and 5 is that 4 is done using lexical tables. It is much faster than 5, but cannot search across verses. Option 5 does a verse by verse linear search. It is slow but can find phrases that span verses.


The options for combining the three searches are provided in two groups. The first group provides options for combining searches one and two. The second group provides options for including the results of the third search. The options are:

 

  1. Exclude verses not common to 1 and 2
  2. Retain all verses in 1 or in 2
  3. Exclude all verses in 2


and
 

1.       Exclude verses not common to 2 and 3

2.       Retain all verses in 2 or 3

3.       Exclude all verses in 3


Options are also provided to specify verse contexts for the searches.


As you enter words the main Results Window Command Line will reflect your changes. This provides a useful means for learning the faster but more complex Command Line syntax for entering search parameters.