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Finding Interesting Files – The Filetype: Operator

Sometimes, a researcher needs to find something else other than a web page. News releases and raw data are often published for release as PDF files. Microsoft Powerpoint files (.PPTX) are often used to outline new company initiatives. Microsoft Word files (.DOCX) are shared while text is being edited/approved/discussed.

To find these files, the filetype: operator (or its alias, the ext: operator) can be used. For example, if I need to find official releases of employment data, a possible search would be one of the below:

employment data filetype:pdf
employment data ext:pdf
Searching for employment data.

As you can note from the red boxes above, all the results are of .PDF files – as the search query asked for.

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The define: operator – A Replacement For The Dictionary

Google search is not just a great search engine, but also a great library of utility functions. An example of this is the define: operator.

The define: operator acts as a dictionary: it lets you ask for the definition of a word. For example, searching for the below text gives me the definition of this strange word:

define:defenestration

If you have a phrase you need to look up, feel free to throw it in as well. I wonder what this phrase means…

define:trip the light fantastic

I often use this function to look up domain-specific words, such as words used only in the legal or technology fields, and I’ve always found useful, intelligent definitions.

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Limiting Your Search To A Single Site: The site: operator – Otherwise Known As My Favorite Operator

Perhaps the most known and used operator is the site: operator, which limits a search to a single site. For example, if I wanted to find all Disney related pages on Twitter, I might search for (remember, no spaces between site: and the site you’re searching):

disney site:twitter.com

As you can see, all the results are on twitter.com.

This operator is really useful on large sites that have poor search functionality – for example, searching Javadocs or social media sites such as Reddit.

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Finding Old/Historical/Archived Content – The Cache Operator & Archive Services

Is your bookmark leading to an empty webpage? Did that link you found on a forum post dated 5 years ago no longer work? Perhaps you need some information from a site and it’s currently down for maintenance?

Fortunately, Google has you covered. The cache: operator shows you the given web page as Google saw it before. Using it is easy: type in cache: and then the URL you need to see. Make sure there is no space between cache: and the address.

As an example, see below:

cache:reddit.com

After you hit the search button, you’ll get something similar to this:

On some occasions, Google won’t be able to find a cached page, and you’ll see an image similar to the below:

In these cases, it’s time to pop over to archive.org and use the Wayback Machine: put the URL you want into the Wayback Machine prompt:

You’ll see options to select a year and a specific date: Click the blue circled dates to see the web page as it was on that date.

The Wayback Machine is useful for seeing historical snapshots of web pages as well, and seeing how web pages change through time.

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Google Doodle

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 57th birthday of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, who was a famous wildlife conservationist, zookeeper, and TV personality.

This is what the Google homepage looked like with the doodle:

Clicking on it goes to a slideshow showcasing many aspects of Steve Irwin’s life.

Many other organizations are also taking the opportunity of celebrating Steve’s life, such as Animal Planet on Twitter: