Google offers a bunch of operators which if used can simplify our work. If you know how to use them, google can be your best friend, else you’ll have to battle it out with google to get the info you want. I’ve tried to explain some of the operators which i thought would be useful.
In the following table t1, t2 and t3 are search terms.
| Operator | What it does? | Example |
| “t1 t2” | Search exactly for t1 t2 | “hello world” gives results with words hello world appearing exactly. |
| ~t1 | Synonyms of t1 are also included in results | ~cool man will give results containing new man, great man, groomsman, etc. |
| t1+t2 | Shows results with both t1 and t2 | cool+super gives results containing both cool and super. |
| t1-t2 | t1-t2 | cool-super gives results that contain cool and doesn’t contain super. |
| t1 * | Wildcard, it can denote a word or character you are not sure of | Cool * shows results containang cool math, cool hunter, cool logo, etc. |
| t1 filetype: | Get results of only the specified file type | Internet filetype:ppt will give only ppt files. |
| t1 site: | Only the specified site is searched for t1 | Internet site:en.wikipedia.org will give results only from wikipedia. |
| inurl:t1 | Only urls with term t1 in it are displayed | Inurl:google returns urls containing keyword google. So results are google maps, google docs, etc. |
| intitle:t1 | Searches for t1 in titles | Intitle:wiki gives pages with wiki in title. |
| t1|t2 | | is OR operator . Searches for either t1 or t2 | black|white phone gives results containing black phone and white phone rather than showing black and white phone. |
| t1 num1..num2 | Number ranging. Shows results containg t1 and numbers from num1 to num2 | Earthquakes 2000..2005 shows results containing 2000,2001,2002….2005. That is earthquakes from 2000 to 2005. |
What else can you do with google?
Calculator
Try 5+5 in the google search bar.
Define
define: term will give you the term’s definition. Try define:facebook
Spell checks
Type in with spelling you think are wrong and you’ll get google’s suggestions.
Unit converter
Try 15cm in inch in the search bar.
Currency converter
Try 500usd in inr in the search bar.
Weather updates
weather city to get weather updates of given city.
Map of a place
map city to get map of city
Time at a place
time city to get current time at city.
Precise Sunrise and Sunset times
sunrise city or sunset city to get time when the next sunrise or sunset occurs in city.
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