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Proximity searching

A Proximity search lets you make a Fast Concordance which keeps words only if they are found within a certain distance of other words.

To enter words for a proximity search, go to the Text menu and choose Configure Proximity search, or open the Make Fast Concordance dialog and press the Edit button next to Proximity.

To make your concordance, open the Make Fast Concordance dialog if it is not already open (go to the File menu and choose Make Fast Concordance from Files or Make Fast Concordance from Clipboard.)  In the Fast Concordance dialog, look at Word Selection Method and ensure Proximity is selected. Then press the Make Fast Concordance button.

You can specify up to five words to keep. For each, you must specify a number for the distance (for example, "within 3 words of"), and the other word which has to be present within that distance.

The maximum distance you can specify is 20 words.

Words may include the pattern-matching symbols (wildcards)  ?, standing for any one letter, and * , standing for any number of any letters.

It is the first word of each pair, not the second, which will be kept.  However, it will be kept if the second word occurs within the specified distance either before or after it.

An example:  

Say you choose to keep the word FRUIT within 5 words of TREE.  

If your input text contains 'the fruit of that forbidden tree', that occurrence of FRUIT will be kept. And if your input text also contains 'the tree is known by his fruit', that occurrence of FRUIT will also be kept, as it too is within 5 words of an occurrence of TREE (reading backwards).

But the two occurrences of TREE will not be kept because it is the second word in the pair.  If you want them to be kept, you must specify TREE within 5 words of FRUIT as well as FRUIT within 5 words of TREE.

Hint:

If Text -> Special -> Treat upper and lower case separately is selected, the words you enter in the Proximity search will be treated case-sensitively.
 
See also:  
Phrase searching
Make Fast Concordance