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Marko Denic
Marko Denic

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at markodenic.com

Use Google like a pro

Googling is one of the most important skills for every developer.

Let me show you how to get better at Googling.

Let's start!

1 . Use quotes to force an exact-match search:

"what is javascript"

Exact Match

2 . AND operator will return only results related to both terms:

html AND css

AND operator

3 . You can use the OR operator to get the results related to one of the search terms

(javascript OR python) free course

OR opeator

4 . - operator will exclude results that contain a term or phrase:

javascript -css

Minus operator

5 . You can use the (*) wildcards as placeholders, which will be replaced by any word or phrase.

"how to start * in 6 months"

Wildcard operator

6 . Search inside a single website:

site:freecodecamp.org

Site operator

7 . You can also use a very useful feature that helps to find a specific file type.

filetype:pdf learn css

Search by filetype

8 . Search for a range of numbers:

ecmascript 2016..2018

Search by number range

If you liked this article, be sure to ❤️ it.

Happy coding! ❤️

Top comments (55)

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ziizium profile image
Habdul Hazeez • Edited

In addition,

You can use | in place of OR. e.g JavaScript | HTML

Google search result for JavaScript and HTML

The ext is also a substitute for filetype

Google search result for JavaScript PDF documents

Limit search to a domain e.g .com, .edu, .org e.t.c

Google search results for performance of web applications

You can go really weird by combining operators and search terms that will perform a pinpoint search.

JavaScript|HTML|CSS filetype:pdf -"framework" site:edu

When I have the time, I'll write a more comprehensive post about Google searching.

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stereobooster profile image
stereobooster

| is OR operation

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ziizium profile image
Habdul Hazeez

Thanks for the correction. I updated my comment.

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danielbranco profile image
Daniel Branco

Will try to make a good Anki deck with all these tips, make it easy to everyone to study this.

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martinhaeusler profile image
Martin Häusler

Keep in mind that the - for exclusion can really bite you when you look for linux commands including flags (eg. ls -a) because you'll end up with all the pages that do NOT contain the flag you were looking for... 😂 A personal facepalm moment.

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lukaszklis profile image
Łukasz Kliś

You can work around it and search for "ls -la". :D

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martinhaeusler profile image
Martin Häusler

That's true. I just didn't realize that when it happened the first time around. After things became clear, I was laughing like a maniac XD

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stereobooster profile image
stereobooster
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bravemaster619 profile image
bravemaster619

thanks for the links

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danielltw profile image
Daniel Leong 🇸🇬

When you are setting up a new site, beware of any public accessible file that could be index by google.

In the past, that is how hackers are able to retrieve password files.
The google search is a double edge sword.

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devoskar profile image
Oskar Pietrucha

I love the currency calculations tool as well with the time calculations. For example 100 USD to EUR and it will return you the valid value with latest exchange rate.
For time calculations I love to use it e.g. like this: '(1 hour 25 minutes + 33 minutes - 8 minutes) = '. Keep in mind that you need provide the "=" sign to make it work. It's also useful while converting the units eg '3 hours 44 minutes to minutes' or '8 inches to cm'

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haxnet profile image
HaxNet

Switch to a privacy search engine instead.

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zalithka profile image
Andre Greeff

oooh.... TBF, I did already know about many of these, but while reading this and a few of the comments, I just had the most amazing thought: imagine Google Search with syntax highlighting for the input field...

nothing quite like a little splash of colour for some user feedback while typing a search query, hey? (:

now I just wish I didn't have ideas like this while I was at work.. I have other things to do right now.

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nguyenit67 profile image
Nguyen

Thank you so much!!

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denicmarko profile image
Marko Denic

Glad you like it. Enjoy!

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nilakandi profile image
Nilakandi

test

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designeranna1 profile image
Designer Anna

Using search queries under "quotes" for precise results is the best one and really a pro tip. ✌🏼
Thanks to share this. 🎁

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seokjeon profile image
Se-ok Jeon

Thx for this! This is really what I wanted. Helped A LOT.
Can I translate in Korean this article? If you don't mind, I wanna share this awesome information in Korean. Surely, There will be a link directing to this original one.

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