Wildcards

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert Ollier
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Robert Ollier

Hi
Could someone please explain what a 'wildcard' is, and how I can find / type
/ generate them?
Thanks
Robert
 
Robert Ollier said:
Hi
Could someone please explain what a 'wildcard' is, and how I can find /
type / generate them?
Thanks
Robert
Click to expand...

A wildcard is a character that represents zero or more unknown
characters[1]. There are basically two:
? which represents a single unknown character
* which represents multiple unknown characters.

For example: if in a search box you typed "c?t" (without the quotes) you
would match against "cat" and "cot" but not "cote". Typing "co*" would find
"cot", "cote", "company" and "co". Windows XP allows the wildcards to be
anywhere in the search expression, so typing "*.txt" would find all files
with an extension of ".txt". and "m*.txt" would find all .txt files starting
with "m".

Some implementations also use "_" and "%" as wildcards.

[1] Strictly speaking it should be one or more characters but Windows XP
bends the rules slightly.
 
From the Windows Glossary in Help and Support...
wildcard character
[[A keyboard character that can be used to represent one or many characters
when conducting a query. The question mark (?) represents a single
character, and the asterisk (*) represents one or more characters.]]

From the Windows Glossary in Help and Support...
wildcarding
[[In DNS, the supported use of wildcard characters such as the asterisk (*)
in domain names for DNS queries that resolve to multiple names. When
wildcarding is used, DNS servers must support resolving name queries that
use wildcard characters, and resolvers must be able to parse multiple
records from any resource record sets (RRsets) issued in wildcard query
responses.]]

Using wildcard characters
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...ll/proddocs/en-us/find_c_search_wildcard.mspx

This still applies for XP's command prompt....
DOS Lesson 11 DOS Wildcards; File Attributes
http://www.ahuka.com/dos/lesson11.html

Using wildcard characters.
Paste the following line into Start | Run and click OK...

hh find.chm::/find_c_search_wildcard.htm

Paste the following line into Start | Run and click OK...

hh ntcmds.chm::/ntcmds.htm

Then click the Search tab.
Type: wildcard into the Search box.
Click the List Topics button.
Double click each item to read about it.

You can use Ctrl + F to search each article for wildcard to get to the
relevant stuff.

You can use Ctrl + V to paste wildcard in the Find what box so that you do
not have to type it each time.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

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