# Proximity Searching

Enables searching for two or more terms that appear within a specified distance of one another.

Procedure: Place quotation marks around the terms you want to search for, followed by a tilde \~ and a number indicating the maximum number of words separating the terms.

For example:     

> “metabolic mechanism”\~3 

searches for the words *metabolic* and *mechanism* within 3 words of each other.

{% hint style="info" %}
If a proximity operator is included inside double quotes “\~” it is ignored
{% endhint %}

In a proximity search the word order makes a difference. The search results returned for a proximity search will follow the order of the words placed within quotes when retrieving matching hits. 

For example: *"large cats"\~2* finds a totally different set of results from *"cats large"\~2.*

A proximity search can include more than two, or any number of words placed within quotes. 

Example: "natural forest brazil"\~4

Please note that the words placed within quotes are searched precisely. For example the noun *"Brazil"* would not find matches for the derivative adjective *"Brazilian"* when part of a proximity expression. A separate search i.e. *"natural forest brazilian "\~4* would be required to match results where the term "Brazilian" appears.