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search syntax

Search syntax

Type words or a Sphinx search expression in the query box. The plugin uses this expression for full-text matching through SphinxQL.

Start with a few words, then narrow the search using these examples, inspired by recent posts on The Standard.

All words
unemployment statistics

Find both words, anywhere in the indexed text. A space means AND; unemployment & statistics also works.

A phrase
"data centres"

Find these words next to each other, in this order. Use straight double quotes, as shown.

Either word
Labour | National

Find either word. Use the vertical bar for OR.

Leave a word out
election -Trump

Find election while excluding Trump. election !Trump also works. Include a positive search word; -Trump on its own is not a valid search.

Group alternatives
(Labour | National) unemployment

Find unemployment together with either Labour or National. Parentheses make combinations easier to read.

Words near each other
"coalition government"~5

Find these words close together, in either order, allowing fewer than five intervening words.

In a title
@title "data centres"

Find the phrase in a post or page title. Comments have no indexed title; select Posts for articles only.

In the body
@body "tactical voting"

Find the phrase in the text of a post, page or comment.

By an author
@author lprent @body search

Find search in the body of items whose indexed author name contains lprent. Use the displayed author or commenter name, which may differ from a login name.

In a category
@category politics

Match words in indexed category names. Use the Categories checkboxes to select a specific category and its descendants.

In a tag
@tags election

Match words in indexed tag names. Use the Tags checkboxes to select a specific tag. Comments inherit their parent post’s categories and tags.

Combine fields
@title election @body (Labour | National)

Require election in the title and either Labour or National in the body. A field applies to following words until another field or the end of its parenthesized group. @* switches back to all fields.

Which fields work with @?

The current index supports @title, @body, @author, @author_full, @category and @tags. @author_full lprent searches the same author text as @author lprent; it uses the same word-matching rules.

The date columns published_utc, calendar_day and date_added are numeric attributes used for filtering, date counts or ordering. They cannot be searched with @: expressions such as @published_utc 2026 or @calendar_day 20261107 produce a query error. Use the From and To (inclusive) controls for dates.

Likewise, use Content for posts, pages or comments, and the Categories and Tags checkboxes for specific terms. Their numeric IDs and content-type attributes cannot be searched with @.

For example, enter @title election, select Posts, set From to 2026-01-01 and To (inclusive) to 2026-11-07, then press Search. This combines the title search with an inclusive date range in the site’s time zone.

Find recent posts

Select Posts only and Newest first. In Text Search or Archive Explorer, set From to one year ago and To (inclusive) to today, then press Search. The sidebar opens Text Search, where you can add these dates. For comments, the date range uses the comment’s own date.

Try @title election, @title "data centres" or unemployment statistics. Recent starting points:

If the results surprise you

Check Content and the date, category and tag filters. English word endings may match the same stem, so quotes fix word order rather than spelling. Wildcard searches such as elect* require index settings that the plugin’s default configuration does not enable.

Enter the expression itself in the box; choose dates and ordering with the controls. For example, use Labour | National for alternatives.

Background: Search upgraded (yet again).

Content
Date range
Browse dates
Categories

Names open category archives. Check boxes to combine filters, including subcategories.

Browse all category archives

Tags

Popular tags and your selections. Names open tag archives; check boxes to combine filters.

john key
no right turn
national
climate change
cameron slater
lies
dirty politics
housing
GCSB
labour
nick smith
TPPA

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Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 241–270 of 1,031

Post

Caption competition

· notices and features

Sometimes life imitates art. This is the picture that Phil Twyford was ejected from question time for displaying. Might as well turn it in to a - caption competition!

caption contest phil twyford

Post

The SkySore

· notices and features

Dave Armstrong at The Herald Dom Post has written a very funny piece on the SkyCity fiasco, and in the process coined the immortal phrase "The SkySore": When SkyCity politely asked the taxpayer for a top-up they were met with a FeroCity of criticism from…

humour scoundrels

Post

Damn you readers :) Upgrades again

· lprent

Well ok, after the election I figured that I could shift the site to some slower storage with a whole lot of redundancy in a RAID6 array of slower drives. We'd have a lot fewer readers than our peak for about six months after post election, right? Nope…

admin humour Satire The Standard

Post

Imperator Fish: A clarification

· notices and features

Sexist right-wingers are lining up to abuse Eleanor Catton for speaking her mind. The odious Sean Plunket is the worst, calling Catton a "hua" (sounds like and sometimes defined as "whore"). Imperator Fish responds... A Clarification There appears to have been some confusion about the…

art books culture national Satire

Post

ImperatorFish: A statement from the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

· notices and features

Scott at Imperator Fish kindly lets us syndicate his posts.  This one is originally here.   The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is outraged at the scandalous behaviour of Auckland mayor Len Brown. The people of Auckland deserve better than a mayor who spends public money discharging…

Satire

Post

Fred Dagg – User’s Guide to NZ

· Mike Smith

I miss Fred Dagg - John Clarke's latest is a purler. "New Zealand ... is an egalitarian nation made up of well over four million rugged individualists and naturally gifted sportspeople and is run on alternate days by the government and whoever bought the national…

humour monetary policy Privatisation Satire

Post

SISters are doin’ it for themselves

· Guest post

r0b: Promoted (with one minor edit) from a comment. Got me smiling about no laughing matter! SISters are doin’ it for themselves... (With apologies to Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin) Now there was a time when they used to say That behind every great spy…

humour music Spying

Post

ImperatorFish: A statement from John Key

· notices and features

Scott at Imperator Fish kindly let's us syndicate his posts.  This one is originally here.   Apologise? What for? I’m not sorry for anything. I have done nothing wrong. It’s Phil Goff who should be apologising. It’s Phil Goff who should resign. If you read…

john key Satire

Post

Key: I’m Lazy, Incompetent

· Bunji

It may just be the quality of John Key's analysis, but apparently the Gwyn report has done something impressive in scientific circles and proved a negative. It comprehensively shows that John Key never knew about the Goff SIS OIA release. Or not. JK: but at…

john key Satire

Post

Country divided: Key can’t rule

· Bunji

Sunday 21 September: After the election result last night showed how divided the country is, it is unclear how the nation can unite behind John Key to let him be Prime Minister. Key got less than half the vote, with more of the public not…

making shit up Media Satire

Post

Friday Fun: Thatcher and Scooby Doo Jungle Ropebridges

· Bunji

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVPYFsTlp4Y Scooby Doo jungle canyon rope bridges as a commentary on Thatcherite and Tory socioeconomic policy and Stewart Lee's existential despair. Also, (h/t Polity) - these Mr Men book reviews are superb: For indeed, Hargreaves himself seems to give up on Mr Small - in…

humour

Post

ImperatorFish: A plea for help

· notices and features

Reposted from ImperatorFish, who despite his current difficulties kindly allows us to syndicate his posts. I don’t usually ask for help, but this is different. I have made a lot of enemies, and some of them are determined to destroy me. My truth-telling has often made…

humour parody Satire

Post

Should Right-wing newspapers just shut up?

· Anthony R0bins

A dirty election victory hasn't led to any soul-searching among New Zealand's Right-wing newspapers and media. Where to from here? M.Y. KEYBOARD (In the spirit of Philip Matthews) reports. In a parallel universe, David Cunliffe is the prime minister of New Zealand presiding over a…

blogs journalism newspapers Satire

Post

Q&A with Andrew Little 3pm Sunday

· lprent

At 3pm on Saturday Sunday, Andrew Little will be on The Standard for discussion with questions from our audience of ardent left-wingers, greens, those who are just interested, and the odd window driven troll. As always with candidates, this forum will be fully moderated. So…

admin humour labour notices The Standard

Post

The last five days

· Guest post

A train is travelling through a nasty thunderstorm. It’s an express train; it’s late at night, and it’s travelling fast. The bad weather unnerves the driver. He’s had several close calls already. He squints through the small window in the cab, at the curve ahead…

election 2014 labour Satire