index

index

Wildcards

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

  • The asterisk (*) represents any group of characters, including no character.

  • The question mark (?) represents any single character.

  • The dollar sign ($) represents zero or one character.

index

General Rules about Wildcards

  • 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.

index

Wildcards, Hyphens, and Apostrophes

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.

index

Useful Tips

  • 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.

index

Asterisk (*) Examples

s*food matches:
seafood
soyfood

enzym* matches:
enzyme
enzymes
enzymatic
enzymic

Hof*man* matches:
Hofman
Hofmann
Hoffman
Hoffmann

index

Question Mark (?) Example

wom?n matches:
woman
women

index

Dollar Sign ($) Examples

colo$r matches:
color
colour

grain$ matches:
grain
grains

index

Multi-wildcard Example

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