1) You can search by lyrics in any verse, by meter, scripture reference, author, composer, title, hymn number, or by any combination of these.
2) To search, enter search terms in the search text box and click the 'Find' button. Results will be displayed in a table underneath, each row containing a matching hymn, its information, and the first (or first matching) line of the hymn.
3) To rerun a previous search, select the 'Search History' link at the top of the search page, then click an item in the Search History table.
4) Search keywords are AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR, which must be capitalized to be effective. Searches are not case sensitive and most punctuation is ignored; however, placing quotation marks around a phrase will search for that entire phrase, and the asterisk functions as a wild card. By default, NEAR means "within 10 words". The effect can be narrowed or broadened by adding a foward slash, '/', followed by a number -- e.g., "NEAR/3" means "within 3 words". Parenthesis can be used for grouping terms.
5) To search for an exact meter, enter the meter by itself. Periods are added automatically if omitted, and spaces are ignored. So, for example, "8.7.8.7.", "87 87", and "8787" (without quotes) all return the same result.
6) To search for a hymn by hymn number, enter the number by itself (no quotes).
7) Scripture references should use the format found in the Trinity hymnal. The search is entirely unforgiving on the matter -- 'Matt. 28' will found, but 'Matthew 28' will not be.
The text search database includes common words like "of" "the", "and", etc. However, words such as these should only be used in constructing phrases (enclosed within quotes), to avoid long searches with essentially meaningless results.
Sample searches:
| beyond NEAR prais* | matches 'beyond' and 'praise', 'praising', 'praised', etc., within 10 words of each other, in either order. |
| beyond NEAR/3 prais* | ditto, but within 3 words |
| beyond OR prais* | either word or word group |
| beyond AND prais* | both words or word groups |
| beyond prais* | same as above, "AND" is implied |
| beyond AND (praise OR praising) | matches 'beyond' with either 'praise' or 'praising' |
| "beyond all praising" | matches that exact phrase |
| 8.7.8.7. | matches that exact meter |
| 87 87 | also matches 8.7.8.7. |
| 10101111 | matches 10.10.11.11. |
| 401 | returns hymn 401 |
| Ps. 42 | matches scripture references beginning with Ps. 42 |