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To run broad searches, wildcard characters can be used. The following table describes the wildcards that can be used in the quick search field.

Basic Wildcards
symbol	meaning	effect	example	search returns
%	any character	used to search for any combination of numbers or letters	%	all strings
_	any one character	used as a blank space to fill one number or letter	5_3	any string starting with 5 and ending with 3 with one character between
[]	ranges	returns any letters or numbers within a range	[1-9] or [abz]	all strings with first character of 1-9 or all strings beginning with a, b, or z
^	not	returns anything not containing following numbers or letters	c[^135]	all strings starting with c without 1,3, or 5 as the second character

While the [] and ^ are possible, they are not used often as they are more difficult to use accurately. The most common uses of the wildcards are described in the table below.

Common Searches
symbol	returns	common use
%	all strings	used in smaller databases to search all
1% or 123%	all strings beginning with 1 or 123	used mainly to search for 'families' of parts, allows as many characters before the specified 'family'
%1 or %123	all strings ending with 1 or 123	used mainly to search for 'families' of parts, allows as many characters after the specified 'family'
1%3	all strings starting with 1 and ending with 3 separated by unlimited characters	searches a broad range of parts with specific 'family' and variation
123_	all strings beginning with 123 followed by only one more character	used to find specific parts, possibly with different variations
_123	all strings ending with 123 preceded by only one character	used to find specific parts without knowledge of family
1_3	all strings starting with 1 and ending with 3 separated by 1 character	used for specific searches

While wildcards are useful tools, using the Advanced Find tool is often a good idea if the search is more complicated.

Wildcards

Wildcards