Search FAQs

Search with the words, title fragments or dialogue you remember, but keep in mind that Filmot matches indexed text rather than the meaning of a phrase. Spelling and transcription differences can affect results.

These techniques help with approximate wording or inaccurate automatic subtitles:

• Exact phrase: use double quotes, such as "vaccine efficacy", when you know the wording.
• Nearby words: use "w1 w2"~N or w1 NEAR/N w2 when the words may be separated or occur in a different order.
• Alternative spellings or word forms: join variants with |, such as colour | color. Quote alternatives containing several words.
• Context: combine variants with nearby words to reduce false positives, for example (filmot | philmont | philmot | filmont) NEAR/15 (youtube | subtitles | captions | transcript | transcripts).

Examples for terms frequently transcribed in different ways include:

• "CRISPR cas9" | "CRISPR-Cas9" | "CRISPR Cas 9" | "crisper cas9" | "krisper cas 9"
• "mRNA" | "messenger RNA" | "messenger R.N.A."
• "CO2" | "carbon dioxide" | "CO 2"

To search title words, use Metadata search, or combine subtitle words with the Video Title field under Filters. The ? icon beside the search box opens the syntax guide.

Filmot's index is incomplete and contains existing caption text rather than audio. If a video has no collected transcript, or was never indexed, a remembered spoken quote cannot find it through subtitle search.

Filmot supports keyword, Boolean, phrase and proximity operators in subtitle search and title expressions. Click the ? icon beside the search box to open the Search Syntax Cheat Sheet.

• Spaces: require all terms, though they need not be adjacent. Example: CRISPR gene editing. Do not type AND; it is treated as an ordinary search word.
• OR, written as |: match alternatives, such as "dark matter" | "dark energy".
• Double quotes: match an exact ordered phrase, such as "gravitational waves".
• Parentheses: group conditions, such as "stem cells" (therapy | treatment) or (CRISPR | "gene editing") ("sickle cell" | "cystic fibrosis").
• "w1 w2"~N: match words near each other in any order, such as "vaccine efficacy"~5.
• NEAR/N: match nearby terms, phrases or groups, such as "black hole" NEAR/10 "event horizon".
• NOTNEAR/N: match the first term without the second nearby, such as radiation NOTNEAR/100 microwave. The maximum distance is 500.
• * inside a quoted phrase: stand for exactly one word, such as "basic * spectroscopy".
• -word: exclude every video containing that word, such as quantum -computing. A query containing only excluded terms is invalid.
• Caption placeholders: search #FUCK# for censored words, or sound labels such as #Laughter#, #Music# and #Applause#.

The same operators work in the Video Title field under subtitle-search filters and in the title box on Metadata search.

Use parentheses to group alternatives and combine them with other conditions. Terms separated by spaces are all required, while | accepts at least one alternative.

Examples:

• "stem cells" (therapy | treatment | transplant): match the phrase together with any of those clinical terms.
• (CRISPR | "gene editing") ("sickle cell" | "cystic fibrosis"): match a gene-editing term and one of the disease expressions.
• ("deep learning" | "neural network") (protein | genomics) -tutorial: combine AI and biology terms while excluding videos containing "tutorial".

Groups also work with proximity searches, such as ("dopamine" | "serotonin") NEAR/10 ("receptor" | "pathway"). Title fields accept the same syntax.

List the word forms you want with the OR operator |. For example, run | running | runner matches any of those forms. This also helps with spelling variants and automatic-caption transcription differences, such as "mRNA" | "messenger RNA" | "messenger R.N.A." or "CO2" | "carbon dioxide" | "CO 2".

The documented search syntax does not provide a word-ending wildcard such as run*. Its * wildcard works inside a quoted phrase and stands for exactly one word. For example, "observed * decay" matches a word between "observed" and "decay". Use more asterisks for longer gaps, or combine alternatives: "basic * spectroscopy" | "basic * * spectroscopy" | "basic * * * spectroscopy".

Open the ? help icon beside the search box for the complete operator list and examples.

Filmot does not provide unrestricted regular-expression or regex search across its full subtitle database. Use the supported search operators and metadata filters to narrow the results instead.

You can match exact phrases in double quotes, list alternatives with |, exclude terms with -word, group conditions with parentheses, use * for one word inside a quoted phrase, and search nearby terms with proximity or NEAR operators. Channel, upload date and other filters can further restrict the matching videos.

For example, "CRISPR cas9" | "CRISPR-Cas9" | "CRISPR Cas 9" searches several spelling or transcription variants. The ? icon beside the search box opens the syntax guide with additional examples.