sometimes, some people need a screenshot to understand how to use the advanced search, others are unaware of the use of special characters. that's why i made this tutorial.
so if an omniscient person reads this miserable topic.. please ignore ignorant people, your perfection is already known 
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Introduction: what's about here ?
hello n00bs !
as I was called
Search Bar Alternative by devilicioux and
Search tool by Arkshine, I finally decided to finish this
tiring tutorial.
top of the search tutorial
Content:quick hypertext links.
Important.
Search sources.
Searching correctly.
Special characters (symbols).
Logical Operators.
Useful examples.
Common Keywords.
FAQs Frequently Asked Questions.
Useful links.
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Important:
should be read !
this tutorial may help you, no one is omniscient. if you find it too long and complicated, useless, or stupid.. no one is forcing you to read it.
read before to post, only significant questions will be answered.
all the underlined words are including links, read carefully !
don't use this thread to ask/search for something.
avoid posts like "I'll try this", "useless thread", "lol", etc.. a clean thread is better than a spammed one, even if always on the top of list.
if you find some errors in my tutorial, please correct me, or if you know better methods, share them
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Search sources:
where to search exactly.
the Web: using a web browser. the most used one is google.
AlliedModders Wiki: the official
Alledmodders wiki.
amxmodx.org & sourcemod.net: to search for and within the approved plugin threads.
the advanced search: the embedded search engine.
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Searching correctly:
seriously.
if you are asked to search in the wiki, amxmodx or just to "search", at least you need to know where, exactly.
The Web:
there is no extra explanation about the web search, except that you may get better results if you add the website name in the search sentence (and the OP's username). also avoid long sentences and very common words, cause it will search for all the suggested keywords, and the result will be huge and vague.
for better details, use the inverted commas
▼▼.
Alliedmodders wiki:
it's the official,
wiki about
amxmodx,
sourcemod, and
metamodsource.
about amxmodx there are two (three about sourcemod & metamod source) sub-section:
documentation: the main documentation about how to install
metamod, and
amxmodx, how to configure it, to add admins, the map specific plugins, everything.
scripting: this section is for those who want to learn pawn language. making plugins isn't so easy, so you need a basic knowledge.
CS Weapons Information: may be useful to edit basic stuff about some cs weapons, without any real pawn knowledge.
amxmodx.org and sourcemod.net:
there, you may find:
the related news.
a link for the web compiler.
different versions of amxmodx.
and.. the list of approved plugins.
in that same section, you may just browse existing plugins, or use the following methods:
- searching for all plugins depending in their actual position in the approved section.
- searching for plugins, by modification, or by cathegory.
- searching for all plugins made by one person. you need to write the name of the author, or just a part (notice that if another person has that same part in the name, it will be authomatically included into the search list).
- searching by keywords in the whole plugin's thread (notice that you need to write the EXACT keyword (nade is different than grenade), symbols won't work).
The advanced search:
it's the integrated search engine. it can be fully optimised to find almost everything you are searching for, but you need to know/use its advanced features:
- should I search in the whole unrelated sub-forums ?
- I know the name of the thread but don't know how to search / someone made a nice post about steamcmd, but can't find it.
- someone wrote something useful, but can't remember the keyword. it was since some days.
- I'm not sure about a thread's author name.
- I only know the beginning of his/her name.
- I want to know all the threads started by a specific user.
- I searched for a correct keyword, but the search result is shown as threads, there are too many posts, how to find what i am asking for ?
Important:
the search result links are ephemeral, never save or share them.
if you need to share a search result, press the link within the red circle, the same link will search exactly for what you already did.
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Special characters (symbols):enter the Matrix.
special characters are some limited symbols used to refine your research.
Inverted commas:
the inverted commas are generally used to search for a whole specific sentence and not to search for a group of keywords, it's useful to find something that we remember but can't find using the classic web search or the local advanced search.
example: I need to search for this sentence "my name is two for we are two"
no need to add the web site name or any other keyword, just search for this in the web (knowing that it may be
almost impossible to find using the advanced search, as it's using very
common words).
notice:- if you want to add the website name or any other keyword, it MUST NOT be included between the two inverted commas.
- the inverted commas may be used in the advanced search, but I personally ignore their proper use.
the Number sign:
this symbol # is used to search for two combined or separated keywords.
syntax:
keyword1#keyword2.
bad example of use:
keyword1 # keyword2.
status: highly recommended to search for two (combinated or separated) keywords.
the Asterisk:
this symbol * is used to replace unknown (from zero to the maximum) character(s).
syntax:
*keyword1, keyword2*,
*keyword3*,
key*word4,
*key*word5,
key*word6*,
*key*word7*.
bad example of use:
key* word8,
*key* word9,
key *word10*,
*key * word11*.
status: may find keywords only from a known part.
the Parentheses (Brackets):
this brackets () are used for more detailed searchs, you must follow logical ways if you want to use them.
syntax:
keyword1+(keyword2 -keyword3) or
keyword1 not (keyword2 or keyword3)
bad example of use:
keyword1 -( keyword2 + keyword3 ) or
keyword1 + ( keyword2 or keyword3 ).
Other characters:
I personally ignore the use of other characters like
!,
?,
$, etc..
top of the search tutorial
Logical Operators:
1+1=1 ?
AND:
syntax:
keyword1 and keyword2.
remark: it's highly recommended to avoid this operator (except when used with the NOT operator), because it's just ignored and the nearby whitespace characters will be translated as an OR operator.
OR:
syntax:
keyword1 or keyword2.
bad example of use:
keyword1orkeyword2.
NOT:
syntax:
keyword1 not keyword2 or
keyword1 and not keyword2.
bad example of use:
keyword1notkeyword2.
remark: recommended if you want to find a thread containing a keyword1 without containing a keyword2.
plus sign "+"
syntax:
keyword1+keyword2 or
keyword1 + keyword2.
bad example of use:
keyword1+ keyword2 or
keyword1 +keyword2.
remark: the perfect substitute of the AND operator.
minus sign "-"
syntax:
keyword1 -keyword2 or
keyword1 - keyword2.
bad example of use:
keyword1- keyword2 or
keyword1-keyword2.
remark: same as the NOT operator.
Important: it's recommanded to use the NOT operator instead of the minus sign if it's a bit confusing.
the Whitespace character:
syntax:
keyword1 keyword2.
remark: same as the OR operator.
notice: logical operators may be written in small or capital letters.
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Useful examples:
(notice that those examples are just here for reference)
the Asterisk, the number sign & the plus sign: searching for other tutorials:
search for tuto* you'll find all the words starting by tuto like: tutos, tutoriel, tutorials, etc.
searching for too short or common words like xp, C4 and themselves, etc..
just search for xp*, C4*and themsel* to find themselves or even themself.
notice: xp* will not allow you to find keywords like experience because the asterisk is at the end.
keywords like death#bones will allow you to find deathbones and death bones.
keywords like death+bones will not allow you to find the deathbones plugin. but keywords like *death* or *bone* may find both of them.
notice: death*bones is different than death+bones or death#bones the first one is a single keyword with some unknown characters, the second and third one are two combined keywords.
the whitespace character & the Parentheses: the whitespace character SHOULD only be used with AND, OR, NOT, AND NOT, minus sign operators.
you MUST NOT use the whitespace character RANDOMLY in a search sentence beside the operators +, -, (). otherwise it will be translated as an OR operator, and some search symbols as keywords.
"(keyword1 + keyword2 )" will search for: (keyword1 AND keyword2 AND ).
"(keyword1+ keyword2)" will search for: (keyword1+ OR keyword2).
OR, NOT, AND NOT operators: zombie# OR advance will search separately for those keywords even if they are in the same thread.
zombie# AND NOT advance will search for threads including the first keyword AND NOT including the second one.
afk NOT kick* an example to search for threads including the keyword afk but without anything else starting by kick (like kick, kicker, kicking, etc.).
notice that this is just a theorical example and should not be used to avoid any kind of confusion (afk and kick* are generally present in the same posts).
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Common Keywords:save your time.
to search correctly isn't enough, you need to know some very common keywords to avoid missing the most important:
- admin*: will search for admin, admins, administration, administrator, etc.
- C4*: c4 is a too short keyword and not supported by the search engine, add the asterix to find it.
- chat: almost all the chat plugins are including this keyword in their titles.
- heal*: for heal, health, healthkit, healtpack, etc.
- HUD: a very common keyword in requests titles.
- jail*: for jail#break, jailbreak, jailed, jailstuff, etc.
- map*: for map and maps, mapping, etc.
- model*: for model, models, modelT, modelling, etc.
- nam*: for name, named, etc.
- round*: for round, rounds, etc.
- shop: same as vip.
- sound*: for sound, sounds, etc.
- *spawn*: for spawn, spawns, respawn, respawning, etc.
- vip: this keyword is included in more than 500 threads (the maximum of results supported by the search engine), search in separate sub-forum (approved, unapproved, and new plugins).
- weapon*: for weapon, weapons, weaponry, etc.
- xp*: same as C4.
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FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions):enter the Matrix.
Q. I read everything, followed all the steps, but didn't find anything.
A. you are off-topic ! this tutorial shows how to search, not to find results !
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Q. I can't find a working plugin.
A. you are off-topic !
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Q. can I ask for something here ?
A. only if directly related to the search methods.
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Q. someone gave me a keyword, where to search for it ?
A. firstly in titles, then in posts.
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Q. I got too many results !
A. search within separated sub-forums/ change or add some keywords.
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Q. wow, it's complicated !
A. less complicated than pawn language.
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Q. is the search engine bugged ?
A. Yes. I already pointed it out in two
public posts, and in the
Contact Us link.
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