MediaWiki/Search
Interwiki[edit | edit source]
MediaWiki has an interwiki prefix system that lets you search, or link to, external wiki content. And it doesn't have to be "wiki"; it just has to be structured. So, because we have an entry for 'Google' in our interwiki table, you can link to Google results with Google:"Rail+Trail"+Paths+In+Salisbury+Massachusetts.
And you can search Google directly from the search bar of this wiki: Just enter the "shortcode" (Google), followed by a colon (:), and your search query. This works for ALL interwiki prefixes. So, to search Wikipedia for "roses", just enter 'w:roses' in the search bar.
Templates[edit | edit source]
Templates are useful for linking other search engines. See Help:External_searches for example. You can create a template that makes it convenient for editors to post links to search or database query results in the wiki.
Application (Internal) Native Search[edit | edit source]
The default search system for MediaWiki is based on MySQL database technology; and is not the most powerful search engine. To make it better, use the Elasticsearch system instead.
Foundation Project[edit | edit source]
The Wikimedia Foundation has a team called Wikimedia Discovery devoted to search technology.
As of Feb. 2016, it was revealed that the Wikimedia Foundation is working on a grant-funded project to improve Elasticsearch with additional sources of free data and knowledge on the Internet. See Wikimedia Discovery/FAQ
