Slop Search

GoldFynch's 'slop search' feature allows you to adjust how 'loose' or 'broad' a search query for a phrase is. It functions similarly to the “W/N” operator used in the dtSearch of Relativity.

While searching using a slop value, GoldFynch looks for documents that contain all the words in the queried phrase and then checks how many times a word will need to be moved to get an exact match with the queried phrase. If the distance is less than or equal to the slop value, those documents are then included in the results of the search.

Here's how to use the slop feature:

Step 1: Click the Advanced Search tab in the main menu (i.e. the left pane). Then click Create New Search.

Step 2: Enter your search query (into the 'Value' field). And enter the slop value (into the 'Optional Slop' field). Then click the Execute Search button - the one with the 'Play' symbol.

For example...

If we search for "create file" using a slop value of '0' (the default), we get no results:

But, if we use a slop value of '1' we get a result. "create" and "file" separated by a single word: "load".

If we use a slop value of '3', we'll find two additional files:

At a slop value of '4':

The higher the slop value, the wider the range of words will be.