Wildcards are useful for finding variant characters within a word (masking) and for finding words with different endings (truncation).This is useful when you have a keyword that could be written in different ways and you are not sure of the exact spelling, or you wish to leave it open.
Symbols used as wildcards may differ between databases. If using a database for the first time, check the search tips or help section to find out which wildcards are in use and how they work.
It should be noted that Google, Google Scholar, and Google Books do not support wildcards and truncations. Rather, Google utilizeswhat is calledautomatic stemming where if you look up the word "Run" Google will also search for "Running" and "Ran" recognizing that these are all variants of the same word.Thus, using truncation or wildcards in a Google search will hinder you rather than help you.
Wildcards in sEURch:
#replaces one character in the middle (wildcard) or at the end of a word (truncation).
There have to be at least three characters before the#
For example:
wom#n finds woman and women
recreat#finds recreate
recreat##finds recreates, recreated
recreat###finds recreation, recreatingetc.
?replaces multiple characters in the middle of a word (wildcard) or at the end of a word (truncation).
There have to be at least three characters before the?
For example:
col?r finds color, collar, collector, collier, colonizer, colour etc.
compet?finds compete, competing, competent, competence, competition, competitively, competitiveness, competitors, competitive, etc
Use?nin combination with a number, 1-9, to specify the number of characters you want to find.
For example:
colo?1r finds color, colour
re?4tion finds recreation, refraction, relaxation, revolution etc.
compet?3finds compete, compete?, compete!, competing, competent, etc.
*replaces all remaining characters in a word (truncation)
There have to be at least three characters before the*
For example:
compet*finds compete, competing, competent, competence, competition, competitively, competitiveness, competitors, competitive, etc
