Combinationsuch

Combinationsuch is a term used in information retrieval to describe a search approach that combines multiple attribute criteria to identify relevant results. The method emphasizes simultaneous consideration of several properties rather than a single keyword match.

In a combinationsuch query, a user provides a set of attributes and constraints. Systems may support k-of-n semantics, where a result is returned if it satisfies at least k of the n specified criteria, or weighted scoring that ranks candidates by how well they match the chosen attributes.

Implementation typically involves a query parser that converts criteria into a multi-constraint representation, a filtering layer that applies boolean and range predicates, and a ranking layer that aggregates attribute scores. Modern search engines leverage faceted search, inverted indexes, and approximate matching to enable fast exploration.

Applications include product and media catalogs, digital libraries, enterprise data discovery, and scientific data repositories, where users need to explore items across several dimensions such as category, value ranges, and textual properties.

Relation to other terms: combinationsuch is related to faceted search and multi-criteria search. It differs from simple keyword or exact-match queries by emphasizing combinatorial criteria and often using soft constraints and ranking.

Example: a user requests items that satisfy at least two of the following: color red, size M, and price under 50. The system returns results meeting two or more criteria, optionally ordered by overall fit.

History and status: the term combinationsuch is not widely standardized. It appears in discussions of enhanced search interfaces as a descriptive pattern within multi-criteria search or faceted navigation.