Rules of Delimiter Syntax

• The above can be anywhere in a Metamorph query, and is interpreted as "within {the following delimiters}".

• Accepted built-in abbreviations following the slash `/' are:

  Abbreviation > Meaning

  line > within a line

  sent > within a sentence

  para > within a paragraph

  page > within a page

  all > within a field

  NUMBER> within NUMBER characters

  REX Expression > Meaning

  $ > 1 new line

  [^\digit\upper][.?!][\space'"] > not a digit or upper case letter, then

  > a period, question, or exclamation point, then

  > any space character, single or double quote

  \x0a=\space+ > a new line + some space

  \x0c > form feed for printer output

  
  Table: Metamorph delimiter abbreviations
  

• A number following a slash `/' means the number of characters before and after the first search item found. Therefore "w/250" means "within a proximity of 250 characters". When the first occurrence of a valid search item is found, a window of 250 characters in either direction will be used to determine if it is a valid hit. The implied REX expression is: ".{,250}" meaning "250 of any character".

• If what follows the slash `/' is not recognized as a built-in, it is assumed that what follows is a REX expression.

• If one expression only is present, it will be used for both beginning and ending delimiter. If two expressions are present, the first is the beginning delimiter, the second the ending delimiter. The exception is within-N (e.g. "w/250"), which always specifies both start and end delimiters, overriding any preceding "w/".

• The use of a small `w' means to exclude the delimiters from the hit.

• The use of a capital `W' means to include the delimiters in the hit.

• Designate small `w' and capital `W' to exclude beginning delimiter, and include ending delimiter, or vice versa. Note that for within-N queries (e.g. "w/250"), the "delimiter" is effectively always included in the hit, regardless of the case of the w.

• If the same expression is to be used, the expression need not be repeated. Example: "w/[.?!] W/" means to use an ending punctuation character as both beginning and end delimiter, but to exclude the beginning delimiter from the hit, and include the end delimiter in the hit.