Definition

• "Reserved" or "Stop" words and symbols are words or (typed) symbols that are not searched on.
  • "Stop" words and symbols are ones that are generally ignored by the database software.
  • "Reserved" words and symbols are ones that have specific uses in a database.

Examples

• Typical "reserved" or "stop" words are the common articles (the, an, a, and).
• Typical "reserved" or "stop" symbols are: =, +, and *.
• Other very common words may be"reserved" or "stop" words. Examples include: as, of, on, that.
• Generally, punctuation marks such as the period, comma, exclamation mark, question mark are also ignored.

Why these words and symbols are not searched on

• They are so common.
• They have special uses in a database
  • "and," for example, is used as a Boolean operator
  • The question mark ( ? ) is often used as a truncation operator or wild card.