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Lumpy: phpBB does distinguish between keywords and phrases. The highlighting is not bound to the actual search results:

AmigoJack wrote:The highlighting in those displayed posts however is flawed - this is a technical limitation. You can test this if you just search with your internet browser thru the following search results and you'll always find at least one occurance of what you searched for - unbound to what is highlighted. Examples:

1. Phrase "Dunkin Donuts" only
2. Phrase "exact phrase search" only
3. Phrase "exact phrase search" plus keyword Donuts only

davidbutler wrote:Thread starter

phpBB doesn't have threads, only topics.

davidbutler wrote:exact phrase search

Such a thing does not exist: if you're searching for a phrase it's already something exact. The terms you and wilsonlogan are using are redundant like "IRC chat" or "ATM machine".

davidbutler wrote:(ver.3.0.14), when quotes are used, the search results ONLY include posts that include the exact phrase.

No, not the exact phrase - the phrase. Period. What would be a non-exact phrase anyway?

davidbutler wrote:However, all instances of the words contained within the quotes are highlighted. In your example, a comment with "My friend Dunkin likes Donuts" must have also contained the exact phrase "Dunkin Dounuts." I can see how that would be confusing.

Leaving apart that phpBB does not know comments either (those are posts) let me help distinguishing this: search results display only those posts (or topics) which have the phrase you searched for. The highlighting in those displayed posts however is flawed - this is a technical limitation. You can test this if you just search with your internet browser thru the following search results and you'll always find at least one occurance of what you searched for - unbound to what is highlighted. Examples:

1. Phrase "Dunkin Donuts" only
2. Phrase "exact phrase search" only
3. Phrase "exact phrase search" plus keyword Donuts only

Thread starter Wilson Logan is helping me stand up a professional/technical forum. He started this thread on my behalf. I need to settle on which software we're going to use, and exact phrase search is a non-negotiable requirement.

I originally planned to use VBulletin, which I recall has an "exact phrase search" checkbox on the advanced search page. I recently learned that feature wasn't implemented in version 5, and for reasons I can't begin to fathom, it was ripped out of version 4, which is still in wide use.

Wilson recommended phpBB, until this...

wilsonlogan wrote:..results... contain "Dunkin Donuts" but also results like

"My friend Dunkin likes Donuts"

which to me is not an exact phrase search. Unless I'm missing something...

Wilson, actually, what I think you're seeing is exact phrase search with a twist. Based on my testing (ver.3.0.14), when quotes are used, the search results ONLY include posts that include the exact phrase. However, all instances of the words contained within the quotes are highlighted. In your example, a comment with "My friend Dunkin likes Donuts" must have also contained the exact phrase "Dunkin Dounuts." I can see how that would be confusing.

I would consider that an annoyance bug but it doesn't break exact phrase search capability.

wilsonlogan wrote:My experience is that if you search for
"Dunkin Donuts"
you will indeed be returned results that contain
"Dunkin Donuts"
"My friend Dunkin likes Donuts"

Then you've experienced no phrase searches, but merely keyword searches that strip quotes from your input. A keyword search will naturally also find results where keywords appear in the same order without anything inbetween.

Either they accept phrases, or they don't - there is no "exact phrase search".

My experience is that if you search for

"Dunkin Donuts"

you will indeed be returned results that contain "Dunkin Donuts" but also results like

"My friend Dunkin likes Donuts"

which to me is not an exact phrase search. Unless I'm missing something and you can do something like

"Dunkin Donuts" -"Dunkin" -"Donuts"