RANK

Abbreviation:

None

Command Format:

RANK <field>
RANK <field> <Sn> <range> CONT PERCENT ALPHA DESC DETAIL

The RANK command allows you to perform trend or statistical analysis on an existing set. The Dialog system extracts terms from a specified field and lists them in ranked order. The term that appears most frequently is listed first, followed by the other terms, in descending order of frequency.

After you enter RANK followed by a field code (e.g., RANK PA), you will be prompted with menu options to customize your RANK information in the following ways:

Once a term is ranked, the top eight terms are automatically displayed. Each ranked term is assigned a "rank number" that can be used to save a term for later use.

You can also bypass the menu and enter any of the above options in a single command line (e.g., RANK PA S2/ALL CONT ALPHA DETAIL). See RANK OPTIONS for a list of option abbreviations.

You can rank multiple fields with similar data (e.g., RANK DE, ID). You can also rank partial fields by placing the field code and the range of characters you want to rank in parentheses. For example, to rank only the first four characters of the International Patent Classification Code, enter RANK (IC 1-4).

For online help with the RANK command, enter HELP RANK.

Note: RANK is designed to work with most phrase-indexed Additional Index fields, most numeric Additional Index fields, and phrase-indexed Descriptor (DE) and Identifier (ID) Basic Index fields. RANK also works with all MAP fields. However, to minimize retrieval of inappropriate data, RANK does not work in any word-indexed fields.

RANK Options

For quick ranking of your search terms, you can enter the options you want included in your command all in one command line. The abbreviations for the RANK options are:

ALPHA lists results in alphabetical rather than ranked order

CONT provides continuous output of ranked terms

DETAIL includes additional information for a more detailed display

DESC displays results in descending numeric value rather than in ranked order; use with numeric data

PERCENT includes a percentage column with basic results

When you include CONT, DESC, and/or ALPHA in a RANK command, you will be prompted to choose how many terms (e.g., only the top 50) you want displayed.

• To use RANK in a single command line: 

File 340:CLAIMS(R)/US Patent  1950-98/May 26
       (c) 1998 IFI/Plenum Data Corp
 
      Set  Items  Description
      ---  -----  -----------
?select contact(w)lens? and (disposable or extended(w)wear)
         380786  CONTACT
           52909  LENS?
            2422  CONTACT(W)LENS?
           16877  DISPOSABLE
           84900  EXTENDED
           24948  WEAR
              69  EXTENDED(W)WEAR
      S1      77  CONTACT(W)LENS? AND (DISPOSABLE OR EXTENDED(W)WEAR)
?rank pa detail
Started processing RANK
Completed Ranking 77 records
DIALOG RANK Results  (Detailed Display)
---------------------------------------
RANK: S1/1-77   Field: PA=  File(s): 340
(Rank fields found in 77 records -- 29 unique terms) Page 1 of 4
 
RANK No.  Items in File  Items Ranked  %Items Ranked  Term
--------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ----
    1       555387         25             32.5%       UNASSIGNED OR ASSIGN...
    2          962          6             07.8%       BAUSCH & LOMB INC
    3         7988          6             07.8%       CIBA-GEIGY CORP
    4          116          4             05.2%       JOHNSON & JOHNSON VI...
    5            4          4             05.2%       PERMAVISION
    6            4          3             03.9%       KELVIN LENSES LTD GB
    7            3          3             03.9%       OCULAR TECHNOLOGIES INC
    8         1112          2             02.6%       AMERICAN OPTICAL CORP
P =  next page      Pn = Jump to page n
P- = previous page  M =  More Options     Exit = Leave RANK
 
To view records from RANK, enter VIEW followed by RANK number,
format, and item(s) to display, e.g., VIEW 2/9/ALL.

Enter desired option(s) or enter RANK number(s) to save terms.