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# Hyphenated Terms

By default, when Content indexes a hyphenated term, it stems each of its components and indexes them. It also removes the hyphen from the term, stems the resulting term, and indexes that.

For example, the following table describes the default query matching for hyphenated terms.

Indexed string | Query terms matched
--- | ---
`second-hand guitar` | second hand secondhand guitar

To treat other characters as hyphens, specify them in the `HyphenChars` configuration parameter.

For example, the following table describes the query matching for when `HyphenChars=-&`.

Indexed string | Query terms matched
--- | ---
`Barnes&Noble` | Barnes Noble BarnesNoble

NOTE: To stop Content from indexing hyphenated terms this way, set `HyphenChars=NONE`. This means that no characters are used as `HyphenChars`. The default setting is `HyphenChars=-`.

At query time, Content tokenizes the hyphenated term as the whole term and individual subterms, all separated by the configured `DefaultQueryOperator`. For example, if the `DefaultQueryOperator` is OR (the default value), a query for `second-hand` becomes `secondhand OR second OR hand`.

NOTE: If you change the `DefaultQueryOperator`, you might not get expected query results for hyphenated terms.

The separate parts of a hyphenated term (such as second and hand) are available only for basic keyword searches, and they do not match proximity expressions or field-restricted searches. For example, if a document contains the phrase `second-hand car`, a keyword search for `hand` matches the document, but an exact phrase search for `hand car` does not.

In most situations, OpenText recommends that you set `HyphenChars` to `NONE`, and use the hyphen as a separator (for example, set `AugmentSeparators` to `-`). For more information, refer to Knowledge Discovery Expert.

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Version 25.4 | Last updated October 2025

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Product: Knowledge Discovery View Component 25.4

Topic Title: Hyphenated Terms