Using Wildcards
One of the most powerful options you have when finding and replacing data is the ability to include wildcards in search strings and the replacement text you enter. You can enter any of the following wildcards:
* – Finds zero or more characters.
? – Finds any single character. For example, the search string TAN? locates the string TANK. It also locates the string TANKS.
When replacing data, the wildcard only lets you substitute one character for the wildcard. For example, if you replace TAN? with TANZ, the resulting strings are TANZ and TANZS.
\ – Finds wildcard characters in the search string. For example, \* locates an asterisk (*) in the property values being searched.
To make your searches more effective, use these guidelines:
- If the search string has wildcard characters, the replacement string must have the same wildcard characters or none at all.
- If the search string has no wildcard characters, the replacement string cannot have any wildcard characters.
- Do not use * and ? in the same search string.
The table below details some examples of using wildcards with Find and Replace.
