Why does a Simple Search for an exact item Barcode return multiple matches?

Question

Why does a Simple Search for an exact item Barcode return multiple matches? For instance, if a search is performed for an example barcode AB12CDE345, why will the results also include CDE12AB345 and AB345CDE12 as matches? 

Answer

This is a result of using barcodes composed of a mixture of alphanumeric characters. The Simple Search by it's nature is using "Contains Keywords" as its search logic for the value entered. Though the search is limiting its scope to only the Barcode field of items, the search is still keyword-based for the values of those Barcode fields. 

Due to the nature of the Solr search engine, each different grouping of letters and numerals are each considered to be a different keyword string. For barcode AB12CDE34, the different keyword strings that compose the value would be AB, 12, CDE, and 345. The Simple Search will then return results for any barcodes that contain those four keyword strings in any order, hence results for CDE12AB345 and AB345CDE12. 

In order to return exact results when working with barcodes with mixed characters, please instead use an Advanced Search with the "Equals" operator.

• Article last edited: 24-May-2023