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Regular expressions
The Princeton Geniza Project database allows for search expressions containing certain 'regular expressions'. Regular expressions are codes that can be inserted in search queries to match patterns of text.
| ^string | Matches the text at the beginning of the string |
| string$ | Matches the text at the end of the string |
| . | Matches any single character (including special characters) |
| a* | Matches the sequence of zero or more of the specified character |
| a+ | Matches the sequence of one or more of the specified character |
| a? | Matches zero or one occurrence of the specified character |
| abc|def | Matches either one of the specified strings |
| [abc] | Matches any one of the specified characters |
Boolean Search
The Princeton Geniza Project database uses a boolean full-text search. This type of search allows users to combine keywords with operators to refine searches. Possible operators and examples of their use:
| מולאנא מולאי | Search for rows that contain either of two words by simply typing them consecutively. In this case, the search will find documents that contain either מולאי or מולאנא. |
| כתאבי +מולאי+ | Use a + sign before word to search for rows that contain all of them (in this case the words כתאבי and מולאי) |
| כתאבי AND מולאי כתאבי OR מולאי | The keyword AND indicates that both search terms must be present in the results. OR matches either search term. |
| כתאב –כתאבה | Use a - sign to exclude a term from your results (in this case, the search will include כתאב but exclude כתאבה) |
| *כתאב ?כתאב |
Use an asterisk or a question mark as a wildcard. An asterix matches any number of characters. A question mark matches any single character |
Bodl. MS heb. d 66/38
Letter addressed to Abū ʿAlī Aharon ha-Kohen b. Avraham. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, and quite eloquent. The addressee and his father have long strings of titles. Recto is entirely introductory blessings. The writer continues on verso with a strong rebuke for the lack of letters, especially because he has suffered "illnesses like no one has ever suffered before." He justifies his rebuke with an (unattributed) quote from Kitāb al-Zahra, the treatise on love by the 10th-century Muslim jurist Muḥammad b. Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī: "Without rebuking lapses, one can't preserve a friendship." The writer sends regards to Abū ʿImrān, who he fears is mad at him and wants to cut off their correspondence, because he hasn't responded to the writer's letters. Regards to Abū Saʿīd as well, and a nice astronomical blessing: פלא זאלת אפלאך עלוהא דאירה ושמס עזהא נאירה וכואכב סעדהא סאירה. ASE
Library: Bodl.
Type: Letter
