Using Efficient Search Syntax

Use wildcard characters, such as an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?), to represent one or more characters when entering search terms. Wildcard characters are often used in place of one or more characters the actual character is unknown.

Asterisk

Use the asterisk (*) to substitute for one or more characters. For example, sales* locates all words that contain the word sales. The location of the asterisk is important: sales* might bring back salesman, or sales tax, but it would not find dollar sales. To locate dollar sales, enter * sales.

Question Mark

Use the question mark (?) to replace one character. For example, enter sal? to locate words like sale, or sal2, but not sales, since there are two extra characters in that term and the question mark only replaces one of them.

The question mark (?) wildcard cannot be used to search for attribute elements. For example, in the View Filter pane click Select and search for attribute elements, question marks (?) cannot be used as part of the search.

The following examples assume that the attribute Name has two display (browse) forms: First and Last. First refers to the first name and Last refers to the last name.

Search keywords that do not include wildcards have wildcards added at the beginning and the end.

1. • User Input: cor

   • Creates the filter: First Name like "*cor*" or Last Name like "*cor*"

   • Results: Anyone with the letters "cor" somewhere in their first or last name, as in Jason LaCorte or Cora Brown, but not Charlo Smith nor Carrie Ormand.

Text included inside "double-quotes" is treated as a literal comparison. The results will return only those records with that exact term. For example:

1. • User Input: "John"

   • Creates the filter: First Name = "John Smith" or Last Name = "Jane John"

   • Results: Anyone with the first or last name of John, not Johnson or McJohn or similar.

A blank space, a comma, or the word OR indicates a logical OR between two conditions. An OR is placed in between multiple forms.

1. • User Input: aaa* *bbb User Input: aaa*,*bbb User Input: aaa* OR *bbb

   • Creates the filter: (First Name like "aaa*" or Last Name like "aaa*") OR (First Name like "*bbb" or Last Name like "*bbb")

   • Results:

A pipe symbol (|) or the word AND indicates a logical AND between two conditions. An AND is placed between multiple forms.

1. • User Input: "aaa"|"bbb" User Input: "aaa" AND "bbb"

   • Creates the filter: (First Name = "aaa" or Last Name = "aaa") AND (First Name = "bbb" or Last Name = "bbb")

   • Results:

A form name (not case-sensitive) followed by a colon can be used to search on a specific form.

1. • User Input: Last:aaa

   • Filter: Last Name like "*aaa*"

   • User Input: First:aaa OR Last:bbb OR ccc

   • Creates the filter: (First Name like "*aaa*") or (Last Name like "*bbb*") or (First Name like "*ccc*" or Last Name like "*ccc*")

   • Results:

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