I am trying to put a search box on my website and need help please. Options

[bonitabelle]

I am trying to find a way to put a search box on my website. I want people to be able to search the website itself and not the entire internet. I am really new at all this and really confused. I have taught myself HTML and know nothing about scripts. Can someone please help me.

[pandy]

If your site is indexed by search engine you could use the free site search most of them offer. For instant these:
http://www.google.com/searchcode.html
http://gigablast.com/sitesearch.html

You could use a hosted service like these:
http://hotscripts.com/Remotely_Hosted/Sear...arch/index.html

Or, you could run a script on your own server. You can find such script at http://hotscipts.com too. Another option is to do the indexing from your local machine. Zoom is a nice program, free for smaller sites. You'll still need access to a server side programming language to display the results.
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/
[ADDED]
I think I'm wrong about that last thing. Zoom has a JavaScript solution too. But that doesn't sound like something recommendable.

[Peter1968]

The one I use

Assumes you have CGI access and that perl is installed. It also installs the script remotely for you if you answer a couple of questions for it (account username/password) which saves you from installing it yourself.

I've used it for several years and have no issues with it.

[John Pozadzides]

I think that for a complete beginner the best option is to implement the free Google search Pandy referenced. It includes a function called Site Search which limits the results to a search of just your site.

John