The CTXCAT Grammar

The CTXCAT grammar is the default grammar for CATSEARCH. This grammar supports logical operations such as AND and OR as well as phrase queries.

The CATSEARCH query operators have the following syntax:

Table 4-3 CATSEARCH Query Operator Syntax

Operation	Syntax	Description of Operation
Logical `AND`	a b c	Returns rows that contain a, b and c.
Logical `OR`	a \| b \| c	Returns rows that contain a, b, or c.
Logical `NOT`	a - b	Returns rows that contain a and not b.
hyphen with no space	a-b	Hyphen treated as a regular character. For example, if the hyphen is defined as skipjoin, words such as web-site treated as the single query term website. Likewise, if the hyphen is defined as a printjoin, words such as web-site treated as web site with the space in the `CTXCAT` query language.
" "	"a b c"	Returns rows that contain the phrase "a b c". For example, entering "Sony CD Player" means return all rows that contain this sequence of words.
( )	(A B) \| C	Parentheses group operations. This query is equivalent to the `CONTAINS` query (A &B) \| C.

You can use the CONTEXT grammar in CATSEARCH queries. To do so, use a query template specification in the text_query parameter.

You might use the CONTAINS grammar as such when you need to enter proximity, thesaurus, or ABOUT queries with a CTXCAT index.