Searching UDC numbers

It is essential for retrieval that facet indicators such as those of time, race, place, form, language, etc. are recognized by the computer. The fact that symbols are sometimes used without notational significance can cause problems. These problems are summarized as follows:

	Some of the notational devices serve the function of visual convenience; this is meaningless in a computer environment, i.e. dot.
	Some of the notational devices use the same punctuation symbols. The order of sorting these symbols, arbitrarily defined for each type of computer, causes some problems when they are interspersed among digits in UDC numbers, especially if the user desires to adhere to UDC filing rules.
	Some of the notational devices require the recognition of two characters in order to differentiate between devices. For example the equals sign has one meaning by itself and another if it is preceded by a parenthesis i.e. = … and (=…)
	One device, .0, incorporates a meaningful use of what is otherwise a convenience symbol, the decimal point – beginning of a facet indicator.

In order to deal with these notational device problems in a computer environment, the devices are reconfigured to allow for computer recognition.