Please see SMF1.1:Search (admin) or SMF2.0:Search (admin) depending on the version of SMF you are using.
Settings
- Enable simple search - This will show a simple search form and a link to a more advanced form.
- Only search for complete word matches - This option limit search results to full words that match a users query. For example, if this option is disabled, a search term like 'here' would match 'here', 'there', and 'hereafter'. Enabling this option would limit search results to only match 'here. Please notice that enabling this option might slow down the search function, especially if the amount of messages is large.
- Disable temporary tables - This option prevents the usage of temporary tables. Since this option makes search queries slower, it's advisable to only use it if you do not have permissions to create temporary tables.
- Number of search results per page - The amount of results per page that will be shown after searching for a string.
Weights
On the Weights page you can control some weights for searching to help you control what type of search results you get.
- Relative search weight for number of matching messages within a topic - Weight factors are used to determine the relevancy of a search result. Change these weight factors to match the things that are specifically important for your forum. For instance, a forum of a news site, might want a relatively high value for 'age of last matching message'. All values are relative in relation to each other and should be positive integers. This factor counts the amount of matching messages and divides them by the total number of messages within a topic.
- Relative search weight for age of last matching message - Similar to the above. This factor rates the age of the last matching message within a topic. The more recent this message is, the higher the score.
- Relative search weight for topic length - Similar to the above. This factor is based on the topic size. The more messages are within the topic, the higher the score.
- Relative search weight for a matching subject - Similar to the above. This factor looks whether a search term can be found within the subject of a topic.
- Relative search weight for a first message match - Similar to the above. This factor looks whether a match can be found in the first message of a topic.
- Relative search weight for a sticky topic - This factor looks whether a topic is sticky and increases the relevancy score if it is.
Search Method
On the Search method page you can select the method of searching that you would like to use that impacts the results from searching. The following methods of searching are available:
- No Index - Check this if you want no search index to be created when searching your forum.
- Fulltext index - Check this if you want to use a fulltext index when searching your forum. You will need to click on the link below: [create fulltext index] first before you can select this option.
- Custom index - Check this if you want to use a custom index when searching your forum. You will need to click on the link below: [create fulltext index] first before you can select this option.
- Force the use of a search index: Checking this will force the use of a search index.
- Match whole words only: - Using this will match only full words when searching. An example can be if a post has the word 'strictly' in it. When searching for 'strict' with this option checked, you will not get any results back, but with the option unchecked, you will get results.
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