When you include punctuation in your search,The CAT does one of the following: ignores it, supplies spaces, or replaces it with a word variation of the punctuation you used.
If you want to include the punctuation mark as a literal character, you must enclose it in double quotation marks.
| What you type | CAT uses | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| cat & dog | cat dog --or-- cat and dog |
Punctuation is Ignored --or-- Punctuation is Replaced |
| cat "&" dog | cat & dog | Literal (Punctuation included in search because double quotes are included) |
| CAB/CAIN -or- CAB Cain | CAB/CAIN | Space is supplied |
| Punctuation | Mark | Replaced With |
|---|---|---|
| accent | ` | space |
| ampersand | & | ignored |
| apostrophe (single quotation mark) |
' | ignored |
| asterisk | * | space |
| at (each) sign | @ | space |
| back slash | \ | ignored |
| brackets | [ ] | spaces |
| circumflex | ignored | |
| colon | : | space |
| comma | , | space |
| exclamation point | ! | space |
| forward slash | / | space |
| hyphen | - | included |
| number sign (pound sign, musical sharp) |
# | space |
| percentage sign | % | space |
| period | . | |
| plus | + | space |
| semicolon | ; | space |
| tilde | ~ | space |
| underscore | _ | space |