Abstract: A method and apparatus for searching data to locate a portion identified by a search query. The data may comprise text files in a database. The search query comprises a sequence of two or more data fragments expected to be contained in the portion of data being sought. The method comprises receiving the data fragments and searching the data to locate the first fragment, then searching to find the location of the last. The method may include locating the earliest match between the data and the last data fragment which is preceded by matches between the data and each other fragment, the object being to find the shortest section of data which contains all the fragments in the right sequence and without overlapping one with another. The identified portion of text can be highlighted in a display of the data.