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Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the general task of finding relevant documents or data in response to a query, independent of any specific search technique.
What matters
Retrieval quality depends on matching a query's intent to relevant content, which can be done through several distinct techniques, including keyword matching and semantic similarity.
Example
A library catalog search, a web search engine, and an AI system pulling supporting documents before answering are all forms of information retrieval.
Common misconception
Information retrieval is not a single algorithm; it is a task that keyword search and semantic search both solve in different ways.
Recall question
Is information retrieval a specific technique or a general task?
Keywords and related concepts
information retrievalsearchquery matchingkeyword search