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There are two ways of searching the [[MusicBrainz]] database: indexed search and direct search. You can also search specific types of [[Edit|edit]]s to the data. |
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=Advanced Search Form= |
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==Data search== |
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'''Status:''' ''This page is part of the effort of [[Restructuring The Documentation|RestructuringTheDocumentation]]. It is a wikified version of [http://www.musicbrainz.org/products/server/docs/20031226-1.html this static page]. It is up to date and has been edited. It still [[Needs Intertwingling|NeedsIntertwingling]] from the (not yet written) pages for [[Quick Search|QuickSearch]], [[Artist Search|ArtistSearch]], [[Release Search|ReleaseSearch]], and [[Track Search|TrackSearch]]. It now [[Needs Updating|NeedsUpdating]] too.'' |
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You can access the data search from our [[mb:search|search page]], or from the search field in the upper right corner of every MusicBrainz page (which uses indexed, non-advanced search). |
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===Indexed search=== |
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The "Advanced Search" form on the [http://www.musicbrainz.org/search.html Search page] is actually the same form the [[MusicBrainz Tagger|MusicBrainzTagger]] uses; it allows you to execute a combined search for artist, release and track all in one go. |
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The indexed search is used by default. It uses the SOLR search engine, making it much more powerful than a direct database search, and, if the "advanced" option is chosen, allowing all kinds of specific queries via its [[Indexed Search Syntax|advanced search syntax]]. |
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Popular results are preferred over exact matches. To search for exact match, please surround your search with double quotes, as in [https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=%22Bach%22&type=artist&method=indexed "Bach"] for example. |
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==How to use Advanced Search== |
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Note: It can't find results that haven't been indexed yet, but indexation now run within seconds, see [https://blog.musicbrainz.org/2018/06/30/weve-finally-released-our-new-solr-search-server-update-2018-06-30/ blog post]. |
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If you are searching for an artist, enter as much of the artist name as you can. |
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===Direct search=== |
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If you are searching for an release or track, enter as much of the release and/or track title(s) as you can. The artist name must be the name (or one of the aliases) of the artist in question, so be sure to use the correct name. If you aren't sure, search for the artist name first. Release and track advanced searches look only at one artist's works in any search. |
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The direct search searches the database directly: it can only carry out simple keyword searches with no boolean logic, but it is always up-to-date. |
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Note: It is just a fallback method, in case something goes wrong with the SOLR search server. |
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When using the Advanced Search form, it might not be enough to enter one or two key words - for best results, enter the whole name of the artist, and release and/or track. |
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== |
==Edit search== |
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The [[mb:search/edits|edit search]] allows searching for [[Edit|edit]]s that match a specific set of conditions, from the [[mbdoc:Edit_Types|type]] of the edit to the [[Editor|editor]] who entered it or the language of the involved [[Release|release]]. |
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If you search for the release "Boys" by "Tori Amos" (leaving the track name blank), then what's actually found is [[Artist:89ad4ac3-39f7-470e-963a-56509c546377|Toys]], and NOT [[Release:cf2d8ec9-8dc7-4b6b-9e2e-3db205a434c5|Boys for Pele]]. What's happened here is that "Toys" is quite similar to "Boys" - only one letter is different - but "Boys for Pele" is quite different - there are two extra words! Since there is a similarity threshold below which results are not shown, you end up finding one release but not the other. |
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==Differences from QuickSearch== |
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The individual searches on the [[Side Bar|SideBar]] use an exact keyword search (e.g. searching for "castle" will never find "castles"); they show all results (within the limits you specify) that contain all of the specified keywords. On the other hand, the Advanced Search (Tagger) form uses a more flexible search based on the spelling of the words, not the whole words - so for example "hate" would now also match "hates", "hat" and "have" (with varying degrees of similarity). At the same time, the advanced search also takes into account the whole name of the track (release, etc) when judging how similar they are. |
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One other possible difference may be that quick searches (and perhaps artist selection for advanced search with release or track) take [[Artist Alias|ArtistAlias]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>es into consideration, but advanced search on artists may only look at the [[Artist Name|ArtistName]]. |
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==How It Works== |
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If you do an Advanced Search for an artist, it takes all the [[Artist Name|ArtistName]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s, applies the similarity metric, and displays all results within some threshold, sorted by similarity. |
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If you do an Advanced Search with non-blank album or track titles, it selects (possibly only one) "matching artist(s)" using something like the [[Quick Search|QuickSearch]] would have returned, takes all the [[Release Title|ReleaseTitle]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s or [[Track Title|TrackTitle]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s for the matching artist(s), applies the similarity metric and displays all results within some threshold, sorted by similarity. The first qualification of artist is necessary because otherwise the complete list of all release or track titles would be impractically large for similarity comparison (and/or there is no single sort index?). |
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If you try to do an advanced release or track search without specifying an artist, you will actually get an error page; similarly if there are no "matching artists" (again, based on exact word matching, like quick search). |
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===Example=== |
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If you do an [[Artist Search|ArtistSearch]] for "Stills", you get a list of artists that includes "The Stills" (plus "Stephen Stills" and a bunch of others). If you use advanced search on just the artist name, I get the same list of artists, but sorted by relevance (with "The Stills" at the top). |
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An [[Release Search|ReleaseSearch]] for "Logic Will Break Your Heart" gets the correct result, but if you do an advanced search with artist="Stills", release="Logic Will Break Your Heart", you get no results. This is because that release is by "The Stills" and the alias "Stills" is not associated with them. |
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==Other Notes== |
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There are some useful [[Search Tools|SearchTools]] available, such as [[Search Tools Bookmarklet|SearchToolsBookmarklet]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s and [[Firefox Search Plugin|FirefoxSearchPlugin]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s |
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In the future the AdvancedSearch may be superseded by a [[Lucene Search|LuceneSearch]] that [[User:RobertKaye|RobertKaye]] is currently implementing in the [[Picard Tagger|PicardTagger]]. |
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[[Category:To Be Reviewed]] [[Category:Documentation]] |
[[Category:To Be Reviewed]] [[Category:Documentation]] |
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Revision as of 21:19, 27 April 2020
There are two ways of searching the MusicBrainz database: indexed search and direct search. You can also search specific types of edits to the data.
Data search
You can access the data search from our search page, or from the search field in the upper right corner of every MusicBrainz page (which uses indexed, non-advanced search).
Indexed search
The indexed search is used by default. It uses the SOLR search engine, making it much more powerful than a direct database search, and, if the "advanced" option is chosen, allowing all kinds of specific queries via its advanced search syntax.
Popular results are preferred over exact matches. To search for exact match, please surround your search with double quotes, as in "Bach" for example.
Note: It can't find results that haven't been indexed yet, but indexation now run within seconds, see blog post.
Direct search
The direct search searches the database directly: it can only carry out simple keyword searches with no boolean logic, but it is always up-to-date.
Note: It is just a fallback method, in case something goes wrong with the SOLR search server.
Edit search
The edit search allows searching for edits that match a specific set of conditions, from the type of the edit to the editor who entered it or the language of the involved release.
