Abstract: A computerized information retrieval system is formed of a textbase of texts of variable length and content. The texts are selected from the textbase on the basis of Boolean logic searches among keywords associated with the texts. When a group is retrieved from such a search, the system automatically segregates the texts based on the presence of absence of a criterion key keyword selected so as to segregate the texts into sub-groups. The same criterion key analysis can then be applied recursively to the sub-groups. The criterion key analysis can then be applied recursively to the sub-groups. The resulting sub-groups are then displayed to the user in a hierarchical display to illustrate the relationships among the texts. A string comparison routine is also disclosed to search for similar keywords.