Match Type "Contains"

Contains all and Contains any perform simple word searches. They will match on parts of words too.

Examples

chicken neck (contains all)
Matches posts containing both "chicken" and "neck". Will also match if the post contains words like "chickens" and "necklace".
chicken neck (contains any)
Matches posts containing "chicken" or "neck" or "chickens", etc.

For both types of searches you can use quotes to search for an exact matching word or phrase.

"chicken neck"
Matches posts containing "chicken neck", but not posts containing "chicken" and "neck" separately. Will also match posts containing "chicken necks". If you don't want it to match on "chicken necks" then you must use a Matches search.

Match Type "Matches"

Matches searches use a different search strategy that allows more precise searches, such as "contains x but not y" searches. However, by default, Matches does not match partial words. Matches is also the only search type for which you can order by Relevance.

You may use the following symbols before a word:

You may use the following symbols at the end of a word:

Examples

chicken neck
Matches posts containing either "chicken" or "neck". Does not match if the post contains "chickens" or "necklace" but neither "chicken" nor "neck".
+chicken +neck
Matches posts containing both "chicken" and "neck", but not if it contains only "chickens" and "necklace".
+chicken -neck
Matches posts containing "chicken" but not "neck". If a post contains "chickens" but not "chicken" it will not match.
"chicken neck"
Matches posts containing "chicken neck" but not "chicken necks".
besti*
Matches posts containing words like "bestiality" or "bestiary".
"chicken neck*"
Matches posts containing "chicken neck" or "chicken necks" or "chicken necklaces", etc.

If you use the symbols like + and - in your search query, it will automatically switch to a Matches search.