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Tip 4.7 Command Line Verse and Word Ranges

By default, searches on the Command Line are limited to searching within a verse. In this Classroom Tip we will see how to search across verses using the Command Line. We will also see how to search for two words with a specified number of intervening words.

Searching Across Verses

Searching across verses requires place a semi-colon and the number of possible verses. For example, we will search the ESV version for the words 'hope' and 'love' within 5 verses:

.hope love;5

There are some exceptions where the number of intervening verses may need to appear in the middle of the search construction, and the semi-colon not included. For example, searching for either the name 'Paul' or 'Saul' within 5 verses of 'Barnabas' requires the following search construction:

(/paul saul).5(barnabas)

Specifying the Number of Intervening Words

Specifying the number of intervening words between two search terms requires adding the asterisk followed by the number of intervening words. A search that includes intervening words can only be done using a phrase search, not an AND or OR search. For example, we will search the ESV version for the phrase 'hope love' with an allowable 3 intervening words.

'hope *3 love

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