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Search bar needs a "NOT" condition

BlueGull
BlueGull
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As a user, how do I force the search to NOT include disqualifying matches (in the old days programming for SQL, I could type NOT and a list of words to mark a non-matching answer).

Such as looking for a product which does not come with a condition/add-on:

Cloth patches without iron-on glue applied. Seems simple: if I say cloth patch NOT iron-on glue, the not is ignored and I get thousands of responses with Iron-on in their title if I say cloth patch "NOT iron-on glue" I get the same thousands if I say cloth patch (NOT iron-on glue) I get the same thousands ergo - the search is useless.

My son, a CAD technical artist who is always trying to use various searches with exclusion (and he uses FireFox) says that searches have cost him hundreds of hours trying to search with out getting the thousands of responses, says he has the same problem, and has started bad-mouthing FireFox. He is often looking for hardware and programming software and is savvy to all the technical terms, and has often had to give up on ever finding what he needs/wants.

As a user, how do I force the search to NOT include disqualifying matches (in the old days programming for SQL, I could type NOT and a list of words to mark a non-matching answer). Such as looking for a product which does not come with a condition/add-on: Cloth patches without iron-on glue applied. Seems simple: if I say cloth patch NOT iron-on glue, the not is ignored and I get thousands of responses with Iron-on in their title if I say cloth patch "NOT iron-on glue" I get the same thousands if I say cloth patch (NOT iron-on glue) I get the same thousands ergo - the search is useless. My son, a CAD technical artist who is always trying to use various searches with exclusion (and he uses FireFox) says that searches have cost him hundreds of hours trying to search with out getting the thousands of responses, says he has the same problem, and has started bad-mouthing FireFox. He is often looking for hardware and programming software and is savvy to all the technical terms, and has often had to give up on ever finding what he needs/wants.

All Replies (2)

Paul
Paul
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Hi

If you were searching, you can use the "-" symbol.

An example of this if you were looking for pike, but not the fish, would be a search term of:

pike -fish

(note the space before the - and no space after the -)

I hope that this helps.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Hi, what sites are you and your son using for search? By default, Firefox sends searches to Google's main page, and Google does what Google does with your query.

If you need to use Google's Advanced Search form, save a step by going to that form first instead of searching through the address bar: https://www.google.com/advanced_search

Google's help site has some good websearch articles and syntax experts in its forum: https://support.google.com/websearch/