32 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
32 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Troubleshooting search queries
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intro: 'If you encounter unexpected results while searching on {% data variables.product.product_name %}, you can troubleshoot by reviewing common problems and limitations.'
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redirect_from:
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- /articles/troubleshooting-search-queries
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- /github/searching-for-information-on-github/troubleshooting-search-queries
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versions:
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free-pro-team: '*'
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enterprise-server: '*'
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github-ae: '*'
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topics:
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- GitHub search
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---
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## Potential timeouts
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Some queries are computationally expensive for our search infrastructure to execute. To keep search fast for everyone, we limit how long any individual query can run. In rare situations when a query exceeds the time limit, search returns all matches that were found prior to the timeout and informs you that a timeout occurred.
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Reaching a timeout does not necessarily mean that search results are incomplete. It just means that the query was discontinued before it searched through all possible data.
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## Limitations on query length
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There are some limits to the length of the queries when searching across {% data variables.product.product_name %}:
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* Queries longer than 256 characters are not supported
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* You can't construct a query using more than five `AND`, `OR`, or `NOT` operators
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Specific search types, such as code search, might have additional limitations. Check the documentation for these search types for more information.
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## Further reading
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- "[About searching on GitHub](/articles/about-searching-on-github)"
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