search with NOT requires AND contrary to documentation

thomas tulinsky May 27, 2013

Documentation says:

To search for documents that contain "atlassian jira" but not "japan" use the query:

"atlassian jira" NOT "japan"

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA044/Performing+Text+Searches

But I think actually it should say

"atlassian jira" AND NOT "japan"

For me,

"atlassian jira" NOT "japan"

returns everything in the database, as if it is matching everything with "atlassian jira" OR (NOT "japan"). Since there is no "japan" in our database, it returns everything.

Searching for terms that ARE in my database,

slow

found 4 issues, including 2 that have "slow motion" (which I don't want).

slow NOT "slow motion"

found all issues in database.

slow AND NOT "slow motion"

finds 2 - those with 'slow' and not 'slow motion'

using (v4.4.3#663-r165197)

1 answer

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Answer accepted
Danielle Zhu
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June 4, 2013

Yes, it appears the boolean operator AND is required. The documentation for this needs an update.

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