In October 2000, Google finally introduced support for the Boolean OR operator. With the Google default of an AND operation between terms and its support for phrase searching using the "quote marks," it is now possible to do some Boolean operations on Google. However, not all work and some permutations come up with strange results. This tutorial is designed to show what can be done and what does work, at least as of November 3, 2000.

Note that the OR operator must be entered in all upper case: x OR y . If it is entered in lower case, Google gives an error message of "The word "or" was ignored in your query -- for search results including one term or another, use capitalized "OR" between words. [details]". Clicking on the "details" link brings up their help page.

I am guessing that Google may still be working out the details. They just recently updated their help page to include mention of the ability to use the OR operator. The OR is a welcome addition, but for those of us used to using Boolean operators, we have to adapt the usual way we would run such a search. The chart above should help, but be warned that Google does tend to change its search features. These changes are often quick and unannounced. If any of the above approaches do not seem to work, or if you find other ones, please send me a note at greg@notess.com