Searching for & % # in Relativity

With default settings, & % #, can't be searched for in dtSearch in Relativity. If you need to run a search for these characters follow these steps:

Add the special character to the alphabet file, by going to the Search Indexes tab, clicking Edit next to dtSearch and then scrolling down to the Alphabet section:

. . . enter the special character four times after the end of the row with the four Zs. Save and then click 'Build Index: Full' .

You then need to run a Regex search in dtSearch to locate a string with the character. Regex searches always need to be preceded with two number signs. The special character will be substituted with '\W'. So to search for AT&T you enter this search:

"##at\Wt"

Fisher Yates Shuffle

When generating random samples, Relativity uses an algorithm called the Fisher-Yates shuffle. See the documentation of the shuffling process on the kCura website here. The Fisher-Yates shuffle creates a random sequence of items in a closed set by picking a random number, n, and then removing the nth occurrence of that number (counting from the end) in the original set and moving it to a new list. This process is repeated until all of the numbers in the set have been removed from the original set. See this example from the Wikipedia page for the Fisher-Yates algorithm:

So after the first selection, we pick a random number N between 1 and 7 (we 'roll' the dice so to speak), 1 to 7 being the count of the remaining number of items in the set, and then take out the nth occurrence of that number counting from the end of the list.

Random sampling can be performed in Excel using the method described in this blog post. In this example we put the numbers in our set from 1 to 8 in column A. Then we use this formula:

=RANDBETWEEN($A$2,$A$9)

to generate random selections from the set in column B. But the trouble is that the numbers repeat. Proceed by entering the numbers from the set in first row beginning in column C. Then enter this formula in C2:

=IF(C$1=$A2,INDEX(IF($A2=1,$C$1:$J$1,$C1:$J1),$B2),IF(C$1=$B2,INDEX(IF($A2=1,$C$1:$J1,$C1:$J1),$A2),IF($A2=1,C$1,C1)))

. . . then drag it to the right and down. The numbers in red at C3:J9 are our random set of numbers.

Getting Rid of NBSP Codes

In Relativity under the Imaging tab and the Imaging Profiles subtab if you select the 'Native' radial button in the Imaging Method section, you'll see the options for HTML files appear. Here you have the choice to 'Remove non-breaking space (NBSP) codes.

What are such codes? In HTML a blank space will not be interpreted as actual space. You need to enter a special code, &nbsp , in order to signify that an empty space should appear.

See this example where the html text just has multiple white spaces between the words, "Litigation Support Tip of the Night"

. . . the html code is displayed in IE without the multiple spaces:

However when html code is entered this way:

. . . IE will show the additional spaces.

Relativity removes &nbsp codes so that they don't prevent the text from wrapping correctly. In a text editor these codes will show up as a hallow circle - something you have have come across before . . .