NEAR and NEXT operators

[jshenricks]

Do you have any future plans to allow NEAR or NEXT operators?

NEAR or NEAR/5
Example: symptom NEAR install
NEAR is a specific form of AND which dictates that the specified terms must be within a certain number of words of each other. A NEAR operator will have a default number of words (typically 10) that defines the allowed separation, but this can be superceded by explicitly stating a number, for example NEAR/5.

NEXT or NEXT/5
Example: sep NEXT/3 install
NEXT is similar to NEAR, except that the words also have to occur in the stated order. So, the example above would match with sep install but not with install, sep

[jshenricks]

Thanks, I understand that this may not get as much use across all your clients, and appreciate you considering this.

[Esha]

@jshenricks These operators are currently not in the roadmap as of now since NEAR or NEXT operators are not commonly used. We were unsure of how many end users of search would be knowing/using it. Certainly we can add this to our roadmap and will check feasibility for the same.

[manpreets]

@jshenricks, SU can try to inculcate this pattern and can try to do more specific R&D on this idea.