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 |
T-S NS 297.4
Family letter. In Arabic script. Likely from a woman. The sender and "the girl" (al-ṣaghīra) have arrived safely in the Fayyūm (l. 5). They are settling in magnificently, for "the people of the area honor me and serve me and fulfill all my needs." The happiness is spoiled only by homesickness and longing "for all of the noble sisters" (jamāʿat al-sittāt al-khawāt). Greetings to somebody's mother; a woman's son; Abū Manṣūr ("please kiss his hands for me"); Sitt al-Khafar ("please kiss her eyes for me"); the sender's brother Abū l-Surūr ("kiss his hands"); again Abū Manṣūr; the mother of Muḥammad(?); and again Sitt al-Khafar. The last two lines on verso may be an address, but they are tricky to read. ASE
