An operator for limiting the scope of your search. If you enclose a search query within parentheses, the search will match only those files that contain the search query exactly as typed. Parentheses force the search to match the case of your search query, disable proximity searching, and disable stemming.
In a search statement, words placed within parentheses are searched for first. Example: (guns and violence) not children. The computer looks first for sources which deal with guns and violence. It then removes the sources which relate to children.
Some search engines allow users to use parenthesis ( ) to group words. This is especially useful in Boolean searchers .