Wildcards

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Wildcards

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.