A basic search consists of three parts: The metadata category to search over, the operator to use, and the value to use in the search. For example, to retrieve all soil samples in the database, the query would be:
sample_type = ENVO:soil
Valid operators for searches are:
Operator | Function |
< | Less than (for integer and float values) |
> | Greater than (for integer and float values) |
<= | Less than or equal (for integer and float values) |
>= | Greater than or equal (for integer and float values) |
= | Equals (matches exact number or string) |
!= | Not equals (matches opposite of exact number or string) |
includes | Partial string matching |
Complex queries can also be created by using AND, OR, and NOT operators. As an example, if we want all soil samples that are low or extremely high pH, we can use the following search:
sample_type = ENVO:soil AND (ph < 4 OR ph > 10)
You can search for multi-word phrases using quotes. For example, to search for any study with "chicken pox" in the title, the query would be:
study_title includes "chicken pox"
Note that you can not use wild cards in any string searches. Only alphanumeric characters and colons are supported.