Long Form, Short Form, and Defaults

Note

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Dialect 2 supports queries in long form and short form, providing ease of expression and smooth transition from complex to simple queries. The long-form expression, which uses the full SGML-style syntax, supports all query-language features and is extensible for future syntax additions. The short-form expression, which is Dialect 1 with a few exceptions, handles the most common query cases. The short form does not support all query features and usually is not extensible. For information about incompatibilities of Dialect 2 with Dialect 1, see Incompatibilities of Dialect 2 with Dialect 1.

Dialect 2 also provides default values and modes for the query language elements. The defaults promote ease of use and provide solutions to common query scenarios. This includes, for example, using free-text queries as the default mode in Dialect 2. For other differences in Dialect 2 and Dialect 1, see Incompatibilities of Dialect 2 with Dialect 1.