Wildcard characters
Wildcard characters can be used to represent non-specific characters in searches. All searching aside from Word Search can use wildcards, words that include wildcard characters are not included in the Word Search index.
| Characters | Matching letter characters |
| * or % | Any number of characters (including no characters) - so w*n matches win, won, and wooden and wn. |
| ? or _ | A single character - so w?n matches win, won, but not wooden. |
|
[a-z]
|
A single letter character in the range between and including the two letters - so w[i-o] n matches win and won but not wan (not case-sensitive so wIn and wOn are also matches). To include accented characters in the search, you must specify the range correctly. To determine precisely which letters are included in the range, refer to the character map for the character set used in your locale. The character map lists the characters in the order used. Note: Depending on your system, you might be able to obtain a character map for your character set
by selecting from the Windows™ Start menu: .
|
|
[abz] |
Matches any one of the letter characters - so [wb]ill matches will and bill but not 8ill or till (not case-sensitive so Will and Bill are also matches). |
|
[! abz] |
Matches any single letter character that is not in the list - so [! w]ill matches bill, but not will (not case-sensitive so Will is also not a match). |
| Numbers | Matching numbers |
| [0-9] | Matches a single number in the range between and including the two numbers - so A[1-3] matches A1, A2 and A3, but not A4. |
| [129] | Matches any one of the number characters - so [12]999 matches 1999 and 2999 but not a999 or 3999. |
|
[!129]
|
Matches any single number character that is not in the list - so [!12]999 matches 3999 and 9999 but not 1999 or 2999. |
fin*me finds findme
Whereas:
fin[*]me finds fin*me but not findme