When building an application, is there any meaningful difference between the idea of "Find" vs "Search" ? Do you think of them more or less as synonymous?
I'm asking in terms of labeling for application UI as well as API design.
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2Thank you for this question, I do always ask myself the same when writing a public API, here another link just for reference http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/21020/difference-between-find-and-search – Zarathustra Feb 20 '17 at 09:58
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Finding is the completion of searching.
If you might not succeed in finding something, call the feature "Search". For example text search in an editor can fail due to no matches - then calling it "Find" would be lying.
On the other hand: in an established job searching site, you can say "Find a PHP job" because you know that for (almost) anything your users want, there will be offerings. This also makes it sound confident, positive and energetic.
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1Linguistically speaking, your answer is wrong. However, for the simple semantics of a software program, it works. – Robert S. Jan 26 '09 at 18:59
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I apologize for using the word "wrong." It seems very extreme. Heh. I think you know what I was getting at. :) – Robert S. Jan 27 '09 at 17:31
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3Not sure how this was the accepted answer / upvoted so much, but find doesn't imply a guarantee of results anymore than search does. You even contradict yourself with your own example when you say "(almost)" regarding there always being offerings. – michael Jun 07 '16 at 20:38
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1I agree with @michael. This answer is not authoritative. It is misleading and self-contradictory. I see a trend in my local programming community to have both a `find()` and a `search()` in the API, the find() returns a single record, and the search() returns a collection. I came to this question to try and figure out if this is a wider trend. This answer only confuses the issue more. – havoc1 Sep 18 '20 at 01:03
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According to Steve Krug in Don't Make Me Think, when talking about usability for a publicly-facing web site, use the word Search for a search box and nothing else. (He specifically prohibits "Find", "Quick Find", "Quick Search", and all variations.)
The rationale is that "Search" is the most commonly understood term, so it's what people will look for when they aren't thinking, and you don't want your users to have to think (at all).
Adam Bellaire
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I would say that "find" is focused on getting a single, exact match. As in the example above, you "find" the perfect PHP job.
OTOH, you "search" for jobs that meet your criteria. Searching is what you do when you want to graze through several results. "Search" returns pages of results. "Find" is closer to "I'm feeling lucky."
Of course, the terms get used interchangeably sometimes. But, I think that's the essence of the difference.
Yes - that Jake.
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Agreed. Find=single hit, Search=multiple results. Also, if implementing a "Find Next" function makes sense, then use "Find". – Ishmaeel Jan 26 '09 at 18:43
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Agreed +1. When using a "find" feature in an app, I'd expect the app will take me to the nearest (or most relevant) match. Then I'd expect to trigger "find next" if I'm not satisfied with the match. When I search, I'd expect the app will provide me with a list of matching results. – Lukman Aug 05 '17 at 15:54
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It is focused on getting a single exact match, but find is more about getting information in a precise, straight-forward way. – JCF Oct 23 '19 at 01:47
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In many applications, find means "find on the current page/screen", while search means "search the entire database/Internet." Web browsers, online help, and other applications seem to make this distinction.
Craig Stuntz
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Within most applications...
Find typically refers to locating text within the document at hand and jumps to the next occurrence.
Search typically refers to locating multiple documents (or other objects) and returns a list.
Chris Nava
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I wrote the built-in Find command in Acrobat 1.0 and worked on the full text Search engine for Acrobat 2.0 and 3.0. Most software at that point that handled large amounts of text had a way to locate an exact match to a single word or phrase and called it Find/Find Next. This is what we called it in Acrobat 1.0. We knew from the start that this wasn't enough to handle entire repositories of documents, so we needed a way to scan across a whole set. We couldn't use Find since that was already in the UI and had established behavior, so we settled on Search. The decision was based on little more than the relatively small set of common words that convey the action.
Even harder is to come up with a reasonable icon for it. Our initial take was to use something similar to the old Yellow Pages logo:
(source: yellowpagecity.com)
but the lawyers shot that down - it was too close. We couldn't use a magnifying glass as we had zoom functions tied to that. We went with binoculars.
Glorfindel
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plinth
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Odd that the lawyers would shoot it down, as the "Walking Fingers" logo is in the public domain. AT&T failed to apply for a registered trademark, and now anyone can use it. http://www.newyork.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=24&id=4ff64021-cb33-4bb7-b04a-5a81ec5dccd8 – Tim Sullivan Jan 26 '09 at 19:12
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Find = Discover exact Example: We write "Please find attached" in an email. We don't write "Please search attached".
Search = Discover exact + Related match Example: Google Search
Ram joshi
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I don't think that there is any difference.
But then again, I'm Portuguese. :P
Megacan
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One angle that (surprisingly) no one has mentioned, is that in English when you say you search something, that something is the thing you're searching within, not the thing you're trying to find. So unless you add the word 'for' (as in, to search for something), the two words are fundamentally different.
It becomes obvious with an example:
- Find the room.
- Search the room.
Two very different tasks! The first defines the object of your search. The second defines the scope of your search.
That's not completely irrelevant when talking about UIs. If your app has a search feature where the user can specify both the source and the object of their search, you might choose to use the words this way. For example:
- Search: Current document
- Find: "positive and energetic"
Yes, as some others have pointed out, the word 'Find' does imply a successful search, but let's not start calling app designers liars for using it when success isn't guaranteed. It's become a pretty standard term for searching a document for a particular string.
Kal
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Search for an answer on stackoverflow that you may find it.
For me Find is the success of a Search, that is to Find is to identify the location of something that's known to exist.
Search should always be used when you have no control on what the user is looking for.
Ahmad
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I think search is more generic and more suitable for text search. Find sounds more like 'find a specific record or a group of records'
armandino
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Find talks about a specific one.
Search does not talk about a specific one.
Did you find the picture I requested yet?
No? Please search on internet. I need to present it in an hour.
Another one is below
Please find the attachment in this email.
(or)
You'll find the attachment below.
(or)
Please find attached.
here, we use find because it is a specific document which is attached to email.
we don't use the search here, as there is nothing to search in a larger domain.
Manohar Reddy Poreddy
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Search is the primary interface to the Web for many users. Search should be global (not scoped to a subsite) and available from every page; booleans should be made intimidating since users usually use them wrong
Read this: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/search-and-you-may-find/
