index

Wildcards

Wildcards represent unknown characters. They are valid only in English-language search queries.

In Topic and Title searches, you must enter at least three characters before using a wildcard.
Wildcards may be used inside a word. For example, odo$r finds odor and odour.
You cannot use wildcards after special characters (/ @ #) and punctuation (. , : ; !).
You cannot search on a wildcard if it appears in a word or name. For example, the search TS=E*Trade OR TS="E*Trade" will not return records about this investment company.

The search engine treats hyphens (-) and apostrophes (') in names as spaces. For example:

AU=O Brien returns the same number of results as AU=O'Brien.

Try searching for names with and without a space. For example, AU=OBrien OR AU=O Brien returns both variants of the name.

When searching for hyphenated query terms, enter the term with and without wildcards. For example:

TS=hydro-power returns records that contain the terms hydro-power and hydro power.
TS=hydro*power returns records that contain the terms hydropower and hydroelectricpower.
TS=hydro power returns records that contain the terms hydro and power anywhere in the record, such as hydro-power, hydro-electrical power, and hydro-mechanical power.

The dollar sign ($) is useful for finding both the British and American spellings of the same word. For example, flavo$r finds flavor and flavour.
The question mark (?) is useful for searching last names of authors where the last character is uncertain. For example, Barthold? finds Bartholdi and Bartholdy. It will not find Barthold.

s*food matches:
seafood
soyfood

enzym* matches:
enzyme
enzymes
enzymatic
enzymic

Hof*man* matches:
Hofman
Hofmann
Hoffman
Hoffmann

wom?n matches:
woman
women

colo$r matches:
color
colour

grain$ matches:
grain
grains

organi?ation* matches:
organisation
organisations
organisational
organization
organizations
organizational