In this context, ‘Searching and Querying’ refers to the extraction of information from data by means of query languages. This process is very different from queries performed using a web search engine, which are often unstructured and ambiguous.

Query languages are specialised computer languages, used to interrogate databases and information systems to retrieve relevant objects, or to perform a sequence of operations. Sometimes several objects match the query, and may have differing degrees of relevance. Such objects can be a variety of different formats, including text, images or videos.

A variety of query languages exist, however the standard language used is SQL (Structured Query Language). Other common query languages include XPath and XQuery, which are used specifically in XML documents. Each query language is governed by strict syntax rules.

Related methods include: Content analysis.