> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.diskograf.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Search the Diskograf Catalogue with Advanced Filters

> Master Diskograf's search syntax to find Malaysian music using plain text and structured filters for artist, label, year, and decade.

Diskograf's search is designed to get you to the right song, artist, or label as quickly as possible — whether you know exactly what you're looking for or you're exploring from a half-remembered phrase. A plain text search is enough to get started, and a set of structured filters lets you narrow results with precision when you need it.

## Basic Search

Type any word or phrase into the search bar to search across song titles in the catalogue. You don't need to know an exact title — partial matches work, and results are ranked so the most relevant entries appear first.

Search ranking takes two signals into account:

* **Catalogue importance** — songs with richer credit data and broader catalogue coverage rank higher.
* **YouTube activity** — songs with stronger engagement on YouTube surface more prominently, helping popular and well-known tracks appear where you'd expect them.

## Search Filters

Filters let you scope your search beyond song titles. Each filter has a full-length form and a single-letter shorthand — both work identically.

| Filter                | Shorthand        | Example                   | What it does                                             |
| --------------------- | ---------------- | ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| `artist:name`         | `a:name`         | `artist:siti`             | Filter results to songs by a matching artist             |
| `artist:"first last"` | `a:"first last"` | `artist:"siti nurhaliza"` | Match a multi-word artist name exactly (requires quotes) |
| `label:name`          | `l:name`         | `label:sony`              | Filter results to songs released on a matching label     |
| `year:YYYY`           | `y:YYYY`         | `year:2020`               | Return songs released in that exact year                 |
| `decade:YYYY`         | `d:YYYY`         | `decade:1990`             | Return songs released in any year of that decade         |

### Artist name matching

Artist filters support partial name matching and resolve known aliases automatically. If an artist is catalogued under multiple names, any of their aliases will match.

### Label name matching

Label filters also support partial matching — you don't need to type the full company name. `label:rocket` will match Rocketfuel Entertainment Sdn Bhd without requiring the complete string.

## Combining Filters

You can combine plain text with any number of filters in a single search query. Write the filters anywhere in the query — order doesn't matter.

```text theme={null}
cinta artist:siti decade:2000
```

This example returns songs with "cinta" in the title, performed by an artist matching "siti", released during the 2000s.

A few more examples to show the range of what's possible:

```text theme={null}
artist:"faizal tahir" year:2008
```

```text theme={null}
label:rocketfuel decade:1990
```

```text theme={null}
wings label:padu
```

There's no limit on how many filters you combine — stack as many as you need to zero in on exactly what you're looking for.

## Search Tips

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="My search returned no results">
    Try the following steps in order:

    1. **Remove filters one at a time.** A combination like `year:2005 label:sony artist:ella` may be too specific. Remove the most restrictive filter first and see if results appear.
    2. **Check your spelling.** Partial matches help, but a typo in the first few characters can prevent a match entirely.
    3. **Try a shorter search term.** Instead of a full title, try the most distinctive single word from it.
    4. **Try the artist filter alone.** If you're confident about the artist, searching `artist:name` on its own will show their full catalogue, and you can scan from there.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I search for a multi-word artist name?">
    Wrap the name in double quotes:

    ```text theme={null}
    artist:"faizal tahir"
    ```

    Without quotes, each word is treated as an independent search token. `artist:faizal tahir` would filter by an artist matching "faizal" and also include the plain text term "tahir" — which is probably not what you want.

    The same rule applies to multi-word label names:

    ```text theme={null}
    label:"suria records"
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I search by decade instead of an exact year?">
    Yes. Use the `decade:` filter (shorthand `d:`) with the opening year of the decade:

    ```text theme={null}
    decade:1980
    ```

    This returns all songs released between 1980 and 1989 inclusive. It's especially useful when you remember the era but not the exact year of a release.

    You can combine it with other filters as normal:

    ```text theme={null}
    artist:m.nasir decade:1990
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why do some artists appear higher in results?">
    Diskograf ranks search results using two signals: **catalogue importance** (how complete and well-documented a song or artist's record is) and **YouTube activity** (engagement and view counts on associated videos). Well-documented artists with active YouTube presence will tend to rank higher than entries with sparse data, even if both are a textual match for your query.

    If you're looking for a lesser-known artist and they're not appearing prominently, try using the `artist:` filter directly rather than a plain text search — this bypasses relevance ranking and returns all matching artist entries.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Note>
  The search bar is available on every page of Diskograf. Click it or use the keyboard shortcut to open the search palette without navigating away from where you are.
</Note>