4 ms·

I am a long time DDG user, going on 4 years? I am just now starting to revert back to google more and more as I start to find their results lacking. The main pr

I am a long time DDG user, going on 4 years? I am just now starting to revert back to google more and more as I start to find their results lacking. The main problem I have with bangs is that my mental mode for searching is always going directly to the search string first. The friction of having to back out of that and insert a bang is too much. I would love to be able to add the bang at the end, as it is often then that I realize a particular search string would be better suited for google or some other service (but mostly google). I'll send them that suggestion.

0942v8653 8y ago
I've been adding the bang at the end of the string for years, and you can even add it in the middle: hacker news !g hacker news!g hacker !g news hacker!g news all work.
- melonbar 8y ago
  Awesome, stellar tip.
- 13of40 8y ago
  I must be too dumb to use this feature, because everything I enter, including the examples from the page, gives me "No Results Found". (Seems like it works from the main page, though.)
  - boomboomsubban 8y ago
    The page linked here is a searchable list of what bangs exist, like !hn for hackernews.
melonbar 8y ago
Wow, that is so true! I never thought of it like that but it can be a bother when you realize the search is going to need google behind it.
shmerl 8y ago
> I would love to be able to add the bang at the end I've always been using it that way, and it works fine. Did you have a problem with using it at the end?
tiles 8y ago
You can add bangs at the end afaik: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=search%20!g https://duckduckgo.com/?q=search%20!g
eerwrq 8y ago
Good news. You can already put the band on the end. I just went to DDG, and searched "cats !gi" and it did a google image search. As for results - I find DDG has good results for most things. Sometimes it's better than google. Occasionally worse. So it's helpful to have the bang when i need it.
msoucy 8y ago
I just tested it, and bangs can be entered at the end of the search string. "foo bar !g" searches Google for "foo bar"
matt7aylor 8y ago
You can do this e.g. 'search string !w'
adambard 8y ago
I believe you can and have always been able to insert the bang anywhere in the query, as long as it has spaces between it and any words.
charlesvdv 8y ago
Actually, a bang can be inserted anywhere in your query if I understand properly your problem. ex: "duckduck!g search" works as expected and go to google!
cdancette 8y ago
But you already can insert a bang at the end of the search string
flossball 8y ago
It is the same as site:domain.name in google and most other search engines. You can add that at the end or beginning of the search string.
- groovybits 8y ago
  you can also do: !site <domain> <search string> ex: !site news.ycombinator.com duckduckgo equates to: site:news.ycombinator.com duckduckgo
magissima 8y ago
Ecosia[0] does this by using a hash sign at the end of the string instead, like "query #g" to google "query". I prefer that to DDG's bangs, but ecosia only has a couple of available options[1]. e: Apparently DDG can do this after all, so ecosia is actually less flexible since the search tag has to come at the end! [0] ecosia.org [1] https://ecosia.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201657321-What-are-search-tags- https://ecosia.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201657321-What-...
nickstanley574 8y ago
"I would love to be able to add the bang at the end" That ability is already there. I use it all the time.
bhhaskin 8y ago
You already can add the bang at the end. That is what I do usually. I am also finding the exact opposite, I have been getting much better results on DDG than Google lately. DDG is a search engine where as Google is a marketing platform.
- kungtotte 8y ago
  This is all anecdotal, but something like 90% of my searches are fine in DDG. The rest are for highly specific searches in narrow fields where there just aren't many results at all, or where there's lots of results in another language e.g. Japanese. Google is better at filtering those out.
groovybits 8y ago
you can already query with a bang at the end of the search string. <something you want to search> !g
300bps 8y ago
I’ve been using DDG for about a year and find it works great. I never end up using google. Are there particular types of searches you have trouble with?

0942v8653 8y ago

I've been adding the bang at the end of the string for years, and you can even add it in the middle: hacker news !g hacker news!g hacker !g news hacker!g news all work.

melonbar 8y ago
Awesome, stellar tip.
13of40 8y ago
I must be too dumb to use this feature, because everything I enter, including the examples from the page, gives me "No Results Found". (Seems like it works from the main page, though.)
- boomboomsubban 8y ago
  The page linked here is a searchable list of what bangs exist, like !hn for hackernews.

melonbar 8y ago

Wow, that is so true! I never thought of it like that but it can be a bother when you realize the search is going to need google behind it.

shmerl 8y ago

> I would love to be able to add the bang at the end I've always been using it that way, and it works fine. Did you have a problem with using it at the end?

tiles 8y ago

You can add bangs at the end afaik: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=search%20!g https://duckduckgo.com/?q=search%20!g

eerwrq 8y ago

Good news. You can already put the band on the end. I just went to DDG, and searched "cats !gi" and it did a google image search. As for results - I find DDG has good results for most things. Sometimes it's better than google. Occasionally worse. So it's helpful to have the bang when i need it.

msoucy 8y ago

I just tested it, and bangs can be entered at the end of the search string. "foo bar !g" searches Google for "foo bar"

matt7aylor 8y ago

You can do this e.g. 'search string !w'

adambard 8y ago

I believe you can and have always been able to insert the bang anywhere in the query, as long as it has spaces between it and any words.

charlesvdv 8y ago

Actually, a bang can be inserted anywhere in your query if I understand properly your problem. ex: "duckduck!g search" works as expected and go to google!

cdancette 8y ago

But you already can insert a bang at the end of the search string

flossball 8y ago

It is the same as site:domain.name in google and most other search engines. You can add that at the end or beginning of the search string.

groovybits 8y ago
you can also do: !site <domain> <search string> ex: !site news.ycombinator.com duckduckgo equates to: site:news.ycombinator.com duckduckgo

magissima 8y ago

Ecosia[0] does this by using a hash sign at the end of the string instead, like "query #g" to google "query". I prefer that to DDG's bangs, but ecosia only has a couple of available options[1]. e: Apparently DDG can do this after all, so ecosia is actually less flexible since the search tag has to come at the end! [0] ecosia.org [1] https://ecosia.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201657321-What-are-search-tags- https://ecosia.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201657321-What-...

nickstanley574 8y ago

"I would love to be able to add the bang at the end" That ability is already there. I use it all the time.

bhhaskin 8y ago

You already can add the bang at the end. That is what I do usually. I am also finding the exact opposite, I have been getting much better results on DDG than Google lately. DDG is a search engine where as Google is a marketing platform.

kungtotte 8y ago
This is all anecdotal, but something like 90% of my searches are fine in DDG. The rest are for highly specific searches in narrow fields where there just aren't many results at all, or where there's lots of results in another language e.g. Japanese. Google is better at filtering those out.

groovybits 8y ago

you can already query with a bang at the end of the search string. <something you want to search> !g

300bps 8y ago

I’ve been using DDG for about a year and find it works great. I never end up using google. Are there particular types of searches you have trouble with?