KBA-01491: What wildcards can I use in my searches?

Question:

In text fields (filters) that allow wildcards, what can I use to expand my search for similar results?

Answer:

You can use the % (percent), _ (underscore), and [ ] (square brackets) wildcards as follows.

  • % means “any string of zero or more characters”
  • _ means “any single character”
  • [ ]  means “any of the single characters contained within the brackets”

The wildcards can be used together.

Examples:

Let us say you have the following projects

  • G4010100
  • G5010154
  • G5009155
  • P4010100
  • P4010300

If you use the following wildcards, you‘d get the following results.

G%

  • G4010100
  • G5010154
  • G5009155

%100

  • G4010100
  • P4010100

%10%

  • G4010100
  • G5010154
  • P4010100
  • P4010300

_4010%

  • G4010100
  • P4010100
  • P4010300

__0101__      (two underscores in front and two underscores at the end)

  • G4010100
  • G5010154
  • P4010100

%[45]           (meaning anything ending in either 4 or 5)

  • G5010154
  • G5009155

G[45]%         (meaning anything beginning with G, followed by 4 or 5, followed by anything)

  • G4010100
  • G5010154
  • G5009155

KBA-01491; Last updated: October 13, 2016 at 9:41 am
Keywords:  mask, wildcard, masking, filters, brackets, search