<not>

[DarinL]

I recently performed some searches using the <not> command using Accordance 10.4.5 on Mac 10.11.6. I received results that seemed anomalous, so I simplified to see whether I was doing something wrong. The simplified search also resulted in anomalies. Can someone explain these results--is it operator error or something else?

 

Search 1: "ἀγαπ*" returns 278 hits

Search 2: "ἀγαπη" returns 64 hits

Search 3: "ἀγαπ*" <not> "ἀγαπη" returns 205 hits (expected 214 hits)

 

Drilling down into the results, I noticed that Search 3 omitted the following, which were in Search 1 hits:

Ἀγαπητοί from 1 John 4:7

ἀγαπᾷ and ἀγαπᾶτε from 1 John 2:15

ἀγαπῶμεν from 1 John 4:7 and 12

ἀγαπῶν from 1 John 4:7 and 8

ἁγάπην from 1 Peter 4:8 and 1 John 4:16

 

 

[Joel Brown]

is for checking which words do not occur together in the same verse/chapter/book.  I believe you are looking for the '@-' operator, which says "I want the first term, when it isn't the second term."

 

So consider:

 

"ἀγαπ*" - 278 hits

"ἀγαπη" - 64 hits

"ἀγαπ*"@-"ἀγαπη"   -  214 hits

[DarinL]

Thanks, Joel. This is very helpful.

 

So, in other words, the @- command and the <not> command will work the same so long as the hit words occur only one per verse. The reason I was "off" by 9 using the <not> command is that there were nine hits in which "ἀγαπη" occurred within the verse with words that otherwise would be hits. So it appeared to work most of the time because most of the time "ἀγαπη" is not found in the same verse with the other hits.

[Joel Brown]

They may work the same in some cases, but I certainly wouldn't count on it!  The logic behind them is quite different, so I would avoid using unless you are trying to find locations where two distinct terms are not both present.