Search Engine Comparison: Features & Syntax
| AltaVista | HotBot | infoseek ultra | Excite | Lycos | Open Text | WebCrawler |
| URLs indexed (millions) | 30+ | 54 | 50+ | 50 | 68 | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| Index updated | monthly? | N/A | real-time index | weekly | 2 weeks | monthly | monthly+ |
| Boolean AND | "AND" or "&" | form-based | type terms | "AND" | form-based | form-based | "AND" |
| Boolean OR | "OR" or "|" | form-based | type terms | "OR" | form-based | form-based | "OR" |
| Boolean NOT | "AND NOT" or "!" | form-based | "-" | "AND NOT" | form-based | form-based | "NOT" |
| Search by phrase | in quotes | in quotes | in quotes | in parenthesis | No | form-based | in quotes |
| Proximity operators | "NEAR" (up to 10 words | No | up to 100 words | No | No | "NEAR" (up to 80 words) | "NEAR" (user specified) |
| Case sensitive | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Field-based searching | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Truncation symbol | "*" | No | No | No | "$" | No | No |
| Search news groups | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Adjacent term operators | No | No | No | No | No | No | "ADJ" |
| AltaVista | HotBot | infoseek ultra | Excite | Lycos | Open Text | WebCrawler |
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