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LOCATION: HOME PAGE: SEARCH TIPS Wildcard SearchesThis PageWhat's a Wildcard?The term "wildcard" comes from card games in which some cards, like the Joker card, can represent any card in the deck. In databases, a wildcard is a special character like an asterisk (*) which can represent any of one or more letters. An Example Wildcard SearchSuppose you want to do some research about Canadian foreign policy. If you do a simple keyword search, you might have to search for "Canada", "Canadian", or "Canada's" depending on which documents are available. While you could do three separate searches, it would be more efficient if you could combine all three terms at once. In a wildcard search, the keyword Canad* would pull up any word beginning with "Canad-" regardless of how it ends. Example Canad* SearchResults: Canad-a, Canad-ian, Canad-a's Note: Another term for a wildcard search is "partial string" Filemaker Pro - The asterisk can also be used in Filemaker Pro (e.g for a name search, J*n would pull both "John" and "Jon"), but the default search mode is set to 'partial string' (see below). To see the list of available wildcard search options, enter Find mode, then click the arrow next to Symbol (in the left side of the page). Access - The asterisk is used to perform a wildcard search. You typically need to have the asterisk before and after the keyword (e.g. *Canad*) for the broadest searches. You can also replace the asterisk with Like, but the search term must be in quotes (e.g. Like "Canad"). Google - Google and other online databases often support * wildcard searches. Partial String SearchIn some databases like Filemaker Pro, wildcard type of search is a default. That is, you just enter the key string of text, and the database assumes that it is a wildcard search - no asterisk is needed. For instance, a partial string version of wildcard Canad* would be "Canad" and the results would include "Canada", "Canadian" and "Canada's". Filemaker Pro - Filemaker Pro supports partial string search by default. A search string like "Canad" would yield both "Canada" and "Canadian." To disable partial string searches and use exact string searches, put "==" before your search term. For example "==Canada" would return "Canada", but not "Canada's". Google - Google and other online databases often support partial string searches. To disable partial string searches and use exact string searches, enclose the search terms in quotes (e.g. "Canada"). Quick ReviewRoll your mouse over the blue box after each question to see the answer. How would wildcards help with these search problems?Records about Italy or the Italian culture. Any state name ending with "-a". Records about East Asia(n), South Asia(n), Central Asia(n) topics. I can't quite remember if the word in the book title is "archeology" or "archaeology". Which of the above searches would work in partial string mode?A: Everything except the last one "arch*ology" where the wildcard in inside the string. Next: Using Boolean Operators (And/Or/Not)
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