Since I received no replies, on or off list (no surprise, I usually don't), to my question I might as well say that I figured it out myself; might have spotted the problem earlier had I not been working when I should have been asleep. On Sat, 3 Aug 2002, Winship wrote: > In archive searching via email this argument ought, I think, to require > a hit on BOTH (implied, need not be stated) the phrase 'series title' and > 'subseries title'. However, it seems to be ignoring the first argument, > 'series title'. > ------------------------------------- > s 'series title' & 'subseries title' in autocat from 98/1/1 > -> 1 match. > > >>> Item #69037 (3 May 2000 08:43) - Re: OECD economic surveys - 130 or 245? > > 6) Serial section title or subseries title with initial article. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > ------------------------------------ The problem is here: s 'series title' & 'subseries title' in autocat from 98/1/1 ^ ^ That ought to be: s ' series title' & 'subseries title' in autocat from 98/1/1 There reason the match was indicated only for 'subseries title' is that 'series title' is contained within 'subseries title'. ' series title' is * not * contained within 'subseries title' and is what I should have used. In case you don't spot the distinction: 'series title' ' series title' which prevents the two terms from being interpreted as the same thing. So that is taken care of. Now I've a question about searching in 1.8e lists (AUTOCAT is still 1.8d), via email, but I'll save it for another item. Douglas Winship [log in to unmask]