How do I use the Proximity / NEAR and ONEAR operators?
Last updated on August 21, 2025
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The Proximity / NEAR and ONEAR operators enable you to search for terms that are near or adjacent to each other within the text of the record.
How
Below you can learn how to use the Proximity / NEAR and ONEAR operators in Quick and Expert searches.
The NEAR proximity operator is used for searching terms that are near to each other in any order.
The ONEAR command is used for searching terms that are near to each in the order specified in the search query.
The proximity number signifies the maximum number of words that are indexed between the two words in the search query. For example, laser NEAR/4 diode will find the following examples:
- external cavity diode laser system
- diode-pumped solid-state laser HALNA
- laser diode
- diode laser
- laser ablation-tuneable diode
If no number of words is specified in the proximity query, four (4) words are assumed.
The search engine requires that the proximity operator is located next to its corresponding search term. Thus, queries with multiple terms need to be balanced to ensure that each search term is properly paired with its corresponding NEAR or ONEAR operator. Additionally, the search terms on either side of the proximity operator cannot be enclosed in parentheses as an unbalanced search error will result if the search terms are not directly adjacent to each side of the proximity operator.
Example proximity searches and their descriptions are shown below:
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laser NEAR diode | Searches for the word laser within four words of diode in any order |
laser NEAR/5 diode | Searches for the word laser within five words of diode. |
laser NEAR/4 diode wn AB | Searches for the word laser within four words of diode when both are in the ‘ABSTRACT’ field |
laser NEAR/3 diode wn TI | Searches for the word laser within three words of diode when both terms are in the ‘TITLE’ field |
space NEAR/0 station | Searches for the word space adjacent to the word station. It is recommended to use a phrase search (e.g., "space station") instead of using the proximity operator with a 0 (zero) to ensure more precise results. |
((lower NEAR/3 limb wn TI) OR (lower NEAR/3 extremity) wn TI) | The search query for this example is valid as the word lower is searched within three words of the search term limb or within the three words of the search term extremity. The search query is balanced in that the search term lower is adjacent to the proximity operator and both corresponding search terms. |
lower NEAR/3 (limb OR extremity) wn TI | The search query for this example will yield a syntax error in that the search terms extremity and limb are searched together as a group (since they are in parentheses), and thus they are separated from the proximity operator. |
lower (NEAR/3 limb OR extremity) wn TI | The search query for this example will yield a syntax error in that the search term lower is not adjacent to the proximity operator as it is separated from the search terms grouped together in parentheses. |
laser ONEAR/5 diode | Searches for the word laser within 5 words of diode in the order entered. The word laser will appear before the word diode in the search results. |
laser ONEAR/3 diode wn TI | Searches for the word laser within 3 words of diode in the order entered and when both terms are in the ‘TITLE’ field |
interactive ONEAR/0 environment | Searches for the word interactive adjacent to the word environment in the order entered. It is recommended to use a phrase search (e.g., "interactive environment") instead of using the proximity operator with a 0 (zero) to ensure more precise results. |
You can use autostemming with the proximity operator since all the terms are automatically stemmed.
For example, electric NEAR/2 energy finds documents with the following variations:
- electric energy
- electrical energy
- electrical thermal energy
- energy saving electricity
- acoustic-electric energy
- thermo-electric energy
- electricity energy
You can use manual stemming with the proximity operator if both search terms adjacent to the NEAR operator are stemmed. If the dollar ($) sign is not entered before each search term adjacent to the NEAR operator, then the search engine will not apply stemming to any of the search terms in the proximity search query.
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$control NEAR/2 $drug | Both search terms adjacent to the NEAR operator are preceded with a $ sign, so stemmed search results will be returned. |
control NEAR $drug | Only the search term drug is preceded by a $ sign, so stemmed search results will not be returned. |
$control NEAR/3 drug | Only the search term control is preceded by a $ sign, so stemmed search results will not be returned. |
$solar NEAR/1 $electric NEAR/1 $energy | All search terms adjacent to the NEAR operator are preceded with a $ sign, so stemmed search results will be returned. |
$solar NEAR/1 $electric NEAR energy | Both search terms adjacent to the first NEAR operator are preceded with a $ sign, so the search results will be stemmed for these two terms. However, the search results for the term energy will not be stemmed since it is not preceded with a $ sign. |
$solar NEAR/1 electric NEAR $energy | The search results will not be stemmed because the search terms on both sides of each NEAR operator are not preceded by a $ sign. |
$solar ONEAR/1 electric NEAR $energy | The search results will not be stemmed because the search terms on both sides of each ONEAR operator are not preceded by a $ sign. |
$lower ONEAR/3 ($limb OR $extremity) wn TI | The search query for this example will yield a syntax error in that the search terms extremity and limb are searched together as a group (since they are in parentheses), and thus they are separated from the proximity operator. |
You may perform an exact phrase search using the ONEAR proximity operator with a 0 (zero), but to ensure precise search results, Engineering Village recommends using double quotation marks or curly braces to perform your search query.
You may use fielded search queries when using the NEAR and ONEAR operators. The search engine cannot enforce proximity of an exact phrase across different fields.
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{time NEAR/0 travel} and {travel NEAR/0 time} | These two search queries will yield identical results. However, these search queries are not recommended as they will not yield precise results. |
"time travel" | This query will yield search results in which the term time precedes the term travel. |
"travel time" | This query will yield search results in which the term travel precedes the term time. |
"Artificial intelligence" NEAR "computational" wn TI | Search results will have the phrase artificial intelligence located within four words of the term computational within the document title.
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{computational} NEAR {artificial intelligence} | The search terms for this query are located in component fields of the composite ‘ALL’ field since no field is requested. Thus, the search engine simply searches for the proximity of each term rather than the exact phrase. The results will contain documents in which computational, artificial, and intelligence are within four words in any of the component fields within the ‘ALL’ field. Therefore, some of the the search terms could be located in the title, while others are located in the abstract, controlled terms, sourcetitle, etc.
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{transmission technology} ONEAR/3 {power grid} wn TI | The search terms for this query are located in component fields of the composite ‘TITLE’ field. The results will contain documents in which the phrase transmission technology precedes the phrase power grid and are located with no more than three words between these words within this field.
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The NEAR/ONEAR proximity operator feature has been enhanced to allow wildcards and truncation searches in conjunction with these proximity operators.
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((recog* NEAR environ*) wn TI)
| The NEAR proximity operator is used in conjunction with truncation searches for these examples. All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms recog* and environ* within 4 words of each other. Search results:
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((recog* NEAR/2 environ*) wn TI) | All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms recog* and environ* within 2 words of each other. Search results:
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((recog* NEAR/6 environ*) wn TI) | All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms recog* and environ* within 6 words of each other. Search results:
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((recog* ONEAR environ*) wn TI) | The ONEAR proximity operator can also be used in conjunction with truncation searches. All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms recog* precede the derivatives of the term environ* and are located within 4 words of each other. Search results:
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((wom?n NEAR heal*) wn TI) | In the following examples, the wildcarded term "wom?n" and the truncated term "heal*" are expanded by the search engine to their various derivatives. All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms listed in the search query and will be located within 4 words of each other. Search results:
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((wom?n NEAR/2 heal*) wn TI) | All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms listed in the search query and will be located within two words of each other. Search results:
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((wom?n NEAR/1 heal*) wn TI) | All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms listed in the search query and will be located within one word of each other. Search results:
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((wom?n ONEAR/1 heal*) wn TI) | All search results will include documents with the following titles which contain derivatives of the terms listed in the search query and will be located within 1 word of each other. Additionally, the derivatives of the term "wom?n" will precede the derivatives of the term "heal*." Search results:
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As proximity operators, both NEAR and ONEAR are reserved terms for the Engineering Village search engine. Therefore, double quotation marks or braces must be used to search the literal word "NEAR" (not the proximity operator). Review the example searches listed below to construct valid search queries.
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"near edge x ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy" | The first search term is NEAR, and is a valid search query since the entire search query is enclosed in quotation marks. |
{near edge x ray absorption fine structure} | The first search term is NEAR, and is a valid search query since the entire search query is enclosed in braces. |
near edge x ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy | This is an invalid search query and will result in a syntax error since the term NEAR is located at the beginning of the search query and neither the term nor the entire query is enclosed in double quotation marks or braces. |
x-ray absorption near-edge structure | The search term NEAR is included in this search query, and it is therefore dropped from the search query by the Engineering Village search engine since there are no quotation marks or braces. The search results will contain all the other terms in the search query except for the term NEAR. |
{x-ray absorption near-edge structure} | The search term NEAR is included in this search query, and it is not dropped from the search query by the Engineering Village search engine since the entire query is enclosed in braces. The search results will contain all the terms in the search query including the term NEAR. |
"near" infrared spectroscopy | The first search term is NEAR and is a valid search query since the term NEAR is enclosed in quotation marks. The search results will contain all the terms in the search query including the term NEAR. |
x-ray absorption {near-edge} structure | The search term NEAR is included in this search query, and it is not dropped from the search query by the Engineering Village search engine since the search term NEAR is enclosed in braces. The search results will contain all the terms in the search query including the term NEAR. |
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