Wildcard Search
Wildcards are symbols that stand for one or more letters in a query. These wildcard types are supported:
- *
- The asterisk is a multi-character wildcard.
- ?
- The question mark is a single-character wildcard; add one or more in place of existing characters within a term.
Note: If you search for * alone, the system does not actually perform a search. It returns all documents the user is allowed to see.
When using wildcards, keep in mind:
- Wildcards cannot be added to words that are placed inside quotes.
- Wildcards cannot be used as a placeholder for numbers.
- Wildcards require a two-character prefix, unless modified by your Administrator. Queries that do not meet this requirement result in a wildcard syntax error.
- A search with a wildcard always runs in exact match mode even if another mode is selected.
Examples
|
Search Query |
Search Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| audit* |
audit audits audited auditing auditor auditory etc. |
* does not need to replace an existing character |
| fav*rite |
favorite favourite |
Add * within a term to find different spellings of a word even if the words contain a different number of characters. |
| privilege? |
privileges privileged |
? must replace a character. This search will not return privilege. |
| priv?lege |
privilege privelege |
Adding ? to replace a character within a word can be useful to find common misspellings. |
| priv?le?ge |
priveledge priviledge |
More than one ? can be used within a term. |
| sm?th |
smith smyth |
? can also work well in name searches to locate commonly misspelled names. |
|
law* (Concept mode) |
law lawful lawn laws |
A search with a wildcard always runs in exact match mode even if another mode is selected. |
|
finance law* (Concept mode) |
Documents that match concepts related to finance and which also contain any forms of law* in exact match mode (law, laws, lawful, lawn). | Finance runs in concept mode, but law* runs in exact match mode. |