Data Director User Guide

10.3

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Wildcards in Basic Search

In your search criteria for Basic Search, wildcards are special search symbols that allow you to specify a text pattern instead of specific characters. You would use wildcards to increase your chances of finding the data you want, particularly if you did not know the exact text or were searching for text that is very similar.

Wildcards are used in Basic Search only. They are not needed in Extended Search because searching is fuzzy by default.

IDD allows you to use two different wildcard characters

asterisk (*)

percent sign (%)

Their usage and effect on search is identical. These characters are interchangeable, so you can use either one.

You can use wildcards in two different ways:

Wildcard Represents	Description
Placeholder for all characters to the end	The search looks for the characters to the left of the wildcard, and accepts any characters thereafter. For example, if you specified the following search criteria for First Name: Mar* or Mar% IDD could return results for: Mary , Mark , Marilyn , Marty
Placeholder for a single character	The search accepts any single character in the position of the wildcard. For example, if you specified the following search criteria for First Name: T*m or T%m IDD could return results for: Tim , Tom

When using wildcards in Basic Search, make sure that you have positioned the wildcard character correctly. Incorrect placement can yield unexpected search results.

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Data Director User Guide

Data Director User Guide

Wildcards in Basic Search

Wildcards in Basic Search