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 12.505
Fol. 1: Legal document. Location: New Cairo. The bottom is missing, but it seems it was also left incomplete since the day of the week and day of the month were not filled in. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Elul 1405 Seleucid, which is 1094 CE. Banāt bt. Binyām known as "son of the Rav" gives power of attorney to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllūn b. Mubārak to claim from her divorced husband Maḥāsin Ibn al-ʿInānī 24 dinars adjudicated to her by the court as well as alimonies and other expenses for their daughter since he had left the town. (Information from Goitein's index card.)
Fol. 2: Upper right fragment of a legal document with an unusual opening: naqūl naḥnu al-qawm al-[...]. Mentions a "mufāwaḍa." Nothing else preserved. Distinctive hand. Unrelated to fol. 1.
