# Supported search terms for finding samples

## Categorical features 

Our search is 'contains' search, meaning the term you enter can be at the beginning, end or in the middle of a matched term. Our search is case-independent. An example is

> IIA

will match 'Stage IIIA' and 'Stage IIA'. To specify a specific string, use quotes

> "Stage IIA"

## Numerical and Continuous features 

You can specify a certain column and mathematical expression such as

> A:>2

which will find all values greater than 2 in the first column. We support the following operators

* \= (equal)
* \>= (less than or equal)
* \>= (greater than or equal)
* < (less than)
* \> (greater than)
* != (not equal)

## Mutation data

You can search any annotation on a mutation, such as the functional impact, protein position, or gene name itself

To find all samples with mutations with the protein change, enter:

> V600E

To find all samples where the functional impact has the text 'frame' or 'nonsense' in it:

> frame OR nonsense

To find all samples that have a mutation, search the gene annotation:

> TP53

To find all samples that do not have a mutation, use the negation of the gene annotation:

> !=TP53

## No data or 'null'

To find all samples that do not have data in one or more columns, use:

> null

and choose 'Remove samples'. To find all samples that do not have data for just one column, use:

> B:null

## Sample IDs&#x20;

Enter a sample ID to find a sample of interest. An example:

> TCGA-DB-A4XH

If you are searching for multiple sample IDs, you will need to separate each by an 'OR'. You can copy and paste a list of sample IDs into the search bar as long as they are separated by a space, tab, or return (new line).

> TCGA-DB-A4XH OR TCGA-2F-A9KO-01 OR TCGA-02-0001

[Use 'alt-click' to freeze](https://ucsc-xena.gitbook.io/project/how-do-i/freeze-and-un-freeze-tooltip) for copying a sample ID from the tooltip.&#x20;

## Search a specific column&#x20;

To make it easy to search a specific column, we use shorthand to annotate the first column as 'A:', the second as 'B:', etc. An example is

> A:YES

This will search ONLY the first column for the word 'YES'. Note that we will retain your original search if you move the columns around.

## Boolean operators: OR, AND, and !=&#x20;

You can enter multiple search terms and we will match all of them with an implicit 'AND'. We also support 'OR'.

Use parentheses to group search terms. For example:

> "Stage II" (B:Negative OR C:Negative)

will search for samples that match 'Stage II' in any column and are 'Negative' for either the second or third column.

You can also use '!=' to negate a term such as:

> !=null

which will match all samples that have data across all columns.