文本挖掘有时也被称为文本探勘、文本数据挖掘等，大致相当于文本分析，一般指文本处理过程中产生高质量的信息。高质量的信息通常通过分类和预测来产生，如模式识别。文本挖掘通常涉及输入文本的处理过程（通常进行分析，同时加上一些衍生语言特征以及消除杂音，随后插入到数据库中） ，产生结构化数据，并最终评价和解释输出。'高品质'的文本挖掘通常是指某种组合的相关性，新颖性和趣味性。典型的文本挖掘方法包括文本分类，文本聚类，概念/实体挖掘，生产精确分类，观点分析，文档摘要和实体关系模型（即，学习已命名实体之间的关系） 。 文本分析包括了信息检索、词典分析来研究词语的频数分布、模式识别、标签\注释、信息抽取，数据挖掘技术包括链接和关联分析、可视化和预测分析。本质上，首要的任务是，通过自然语言处理（NLP）和分析方法，将文本转化为数据进行分析。

Text mining, also referred to as text data mining, roughly equivalent to text analytics, refers to the process of deriving high-quality information from text. High-quality information is typically derived through the devising of patterns and trends through means such as statistical pattern learning. Text mining usually involves the process of structuring the input text (usually parsing, along with the addition of some derived linguistic features and the removal of others, and subsequent insertion into a database), deriving patterns within the structured data, and finally evaluation and interpretation of the output. 'High quality' in text mining usually refers to some combination of relevance, novelty, and interestingness. Typical text mining tasks include text categorization, text clustering, concept/entity extraction, production of granular taxonomies, sentiment analysis, document summarization, and entity relation modeling (i.e., learning relations between named entities).