Sequences can be found by performing text searches on the contents of the library. As the searches use precomputed indexes they are almost instantaneous. In order to perform a text search the user must select: the library, the field on which to search, the text to search for and the mode of searching.
These options are described in greater detail below.
The specific library for searching is selected using the menu button labelled "EMBL" in the above picture but this will depend on the available libraries at each site.
For some libraries it is possible to limit the search to specific fields. The field is selected using the menu button labelled "All Text" in the above picture. For example, for EMBL and SwissProt libraries, the choices are: All Text, Accession numbers, Keywords, Organism, Author and Entry names. Note that entries included in the All Text field are taken from the entry description, keywords, comments, reference titles and feature table. Although these fields are always available, irrespective of the sequence library choosen, only certain fields may be applicable. Selecting a field which is not available for a particular library will cause a warning bell to ring and print an error message in the Error window of the parent program.
The text to be searched for within the sequence library is entered in the search word entry box. The search is case insensitive.
There are two modes of searching, indicated by "word*" or "*word*". The first mode (word*) will find matches which begin with the search word but may have variable endings. To find an exact match it is necessary to add a space to the end of the entered word. For example to search for "trypsin" but not "trypsinogen", enter "trypsin " into the text box. By using the precomputed indexes this mode is very fast.
The second mode (*word*) will find occurrences of the search word within a piece of text. Although this mode also uses the precomputed indexes it is slower than the word* search and hence a "Busy" window indicator is displayed which shows how much searching has been performed. To cancel the search, press the "Cancel" button on the "Busy" window.
For example to search for "trypsin" with the mode *word* would find both antichymotrypsinogen and trypsinogen whereas word* would find only trypsinogen.
To begin the search, either press "Enter" in the search word entry box or press the button labelled "Search".