# Proximity searching in DTH 3 - how to construct / phrase the search
**URL:** https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/proximity-searching-in-dth-3-how-to-construct-phrase-the-search/51454
**Category:** DEVONthink
**Created:** [October 31, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/proximity-searching-in-dth-3-how-to-construct-phrase-the-search/51454 "2019-10-31T23:28:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JohnRoder](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/JohnRoder)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/proximity-searching-in-dth-3-how-to-construct-phrase-the-search/51454/1 "2019-10-31T23:28:55Z")
Hi folks
I have two terms I am searching on and wish to find instances when they appear NEAR each other, either in the same sentence (which some programmes have I believe employed a NEAR command nuanced with ‘w/s’, or in the same paragraph where the command would be finished with ‘w/p’. I have only read of these approaches and they do not include DevonThink in the software discussed. In the archives here I see that proximity searching has been discussed before. Could we re-open this discussion afresh. I will use my current instance as a case. I will put my search terms in CAPITALS. The papers being searched are academic papers that discuss two ideas - one being the difference between an IMMANENT philosophy and a TRANSCENDENT philosophy. These papers also discuss two related elements making up the REAL. They are the ACTUAL and the VIRTUAL make up the REAL.
Okay. You can imagine I want to find out which papers include instances of all these terms/concepts, but also which bring them close together in their discussion. For example I know that some authors will talk about an IMMANENT VIRTUAL and I can find this using a search in speech marks “IMMANENT VIRTUAL”; but what about IMMANENT and VIRTUAL in the same sentence; or IMMANENT and VIRTUAL appearing in the same paragraph.
I believe that if I want to search on IMMANENCE as well as IMMANENT I would use wildcards i.e. IMMANEN\*. Am I correct there and does anyone have any further advice on where I can get a better sense of constructing more complex searches (or their own tips on how to grow my understanding here of DTH 3 search capability).
Thanks in advance.
John
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### Author:  [@evank](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/evank)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/proximity-searching-in-dth-3-how-to-construct-phrase-the-search/51454/2 "2019-11-01T02:37:14Z")
I keep the search instructions for DEVONthink 2 in my clipboard manager for easy access. I forget if it came from the Help file or elsewhere, but I think much or all of it is still applicable. I uploaded it as a text file to my Droplr account if you want to take a look:
[https://d.pr/f/t8tRS2](https://d.pr/f/t8tRS2)
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### Author:  [@JohnRoder](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/JohnRoder)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/proximity-searching-in-dth-3-how-to-construct-phrase-the-search/51454/3 "2019-11-01T03:49:29Z")
Thanks heaps for this Evan. It covers everything I was hoping for and more! Devonthink is certainly very powerful. There are a few operators in the list I didn’t get straight away… but as a novice I can see it is a matter of experimenting and some more careful reading. The NEAR options made sense, so I can begin my trials with those.
Thanks again
John