It is common to select files in OMIQ. OMIQ allows you to easily search for the files you need either through the file name or metadata dimension.
We will be using an example dataset, shown above, to show how you can search for files in OMIQ, when you need to.
1. Basic Search Functionality
You will often see a field in OMIQ that allows you to select files. You can enter search terms in the field to search for particular files. The basic search functionality of OMIQ allows you to search for files using the file ID or terms found in the filename or in the metadata.
In the image above, we used the file ID for Patient Sample 1 Vehicle.fcs file. OMIQ will do exact matches when using the file ID.
In the example above, we have used the search term "Sample 4." OMIQ will then display all files that have Sample 4 in their file name.
You can also use metadata values as search terms. For example, the image above shows using the metadata value "Disease" as a search term. OMIQ then displays all files that are associated with the metadata value as shown by the "showing 25 of 68, 0 selected."
2. Advanced Search Functionality
You can search the file list by using search term operators. The current supported search term operators are explained below.
| Operator | Function |
|---|---|
| ! | This is a NOT operator. Selects any file which does not match the search term. |
| && | This is an AND (Intersection) operation. Combines multiple search terms together and selects files that match ALL terms. |
| :: | Specifies which metadata column to search in. |
Currently, parenthesis and OR operators are not yet supported.
We will use the dataset and the corresponding metadata columns to explain what the search term operators do.
In the example above, we used the search term operator ! to show only the files that do NOT match the term Drug by following the syntax !search_term, which in this case is !Drug.
The example shows how to use the && search term operator to combine the terms Healthy and Drug A. To use the operator, follow the syntax search_term1&&search_term2, which in this case is Healthy&&Drug A.
The example above shows a vague search term, 3. Any file that has 3 in the file name or any metadata dimension will be shown. If we wanted to search specifically on the pairing metadata dimension to highlight just pairing 3, we need to use the :: search term operator.
Using the :: search term operator allows OMIQ to search a particular metadata dimension for a particular term. The syntax for this is metadata_dimension::search term. In the image above, we show that using Pairing::3 shows all the files belonging to pairing 3.
The search functionality works for partial matches as well. In the example above, we have used the partial term tr for the metadata dimension treatment and v for vehicle.
You can combine the search term operators as shown above. Here, we have searched for Disease and every available paired samples except of pairing 1.
Please note that using the search term operators requires no spaces between the search term operator and the search term. Including spaces will cause the search functionality using search term operators to not function correctly. Spaces are interpreted as characters to be included in the search term. For example, search_term1&&search_term2 will work but search_term1 && search_term2 will return no files.