The full-text search tool allows users to enter a keyword or other search query and retrieve a list of related SEC filings, going back four years, on the SEC's Edgar online reporting system. The tool allows searches of SEC filings by type of filing - stock registration statement, annual or quarterly financial report, etc., by company name, by industry code or by a specific time period.

The development of interactive data for corporate filings is one of several technology initiatives pushed by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.

The SEC in September awarded four contracts worth a total $54 million for its program meant to make the data in periodic financial reports easier for the public to find and understand. The use of so-called XBRL, or extensible business reporting language, will eventually replace the Edgar system, which has been in place since the 1980s.

Cox on Tuesday called the newly available search tool "a milestone in our interactive data initiative."

"By harnessing technology to transform corporate disclosure, this new search capability will liberate investors, researchers and analysts from the more time-consuming and less reliable chore of accessing information in public filings one by one," he said in a statement.

The search tool is available on the SEC Web site at http://searchwww.sec.gov/EDGARFSClient/jsp/EDGAR_MainAccess.jsp

Requests, comments and suggestions can be sent to textsearch@sec.gov