Use the near/n connector to find documents with search words that appear within "n" words of each other. The value of "n" can be any number. Use near/n to join words and phrases that express parts of a single idea or to join closely-associated ideas.

Words or phrases linked by near/n must be in the same section (a specific part of a document). Either word may appear first.

For example, the following search finds documents in which both words appear in the same section, within three or fewer words of one another.

richard near/3 branson

It retrieves documents containing the words Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, Richard Branson and Branson, Richard.

Specifying the value of "n"

When choosing the value of n, these guidelines may prove useful:

Using Multiple near Connectors

Multiple near/n connectors are processed from the smallest to the largest.