You can use wild card symbols when you are defining query criteria in character and diary fields.
| Wild Card | Meaning |
|---|---|
|
% |
Use to match any string of 0 or more characters. For example: J%son matches Jackson, Johnson, Jason, and Json. |
|
_ |
(Underscore). Use to match any single character. For example: B_b matches Bab, Bob, and Bub. |
|
- |
(Hyphen). Use to indicate a range. Always use within brackets ( [ ] ). See next example. |
|
[ ] |
Use to match any single character within a specified range or set. For example: [a-f] matches the range of characters a through f while [abcf] matches the set of characters a, b, c, or f. Note, using square brackets and the LIKE operator works for flat files, Sybase, and Ingres.Using square brackets and the LIKE operator does not work with Oracle or Informix. Refer to Database Considerations in Chapter 4 of the Action Request System Installation Guide for more information. |
|
[^] |
Use to match any single character not within a specified range or set. For example: [^a-f] matches all characters except the range a through f while [^abcf] matches all characters except a, b, c, or f. |
You can force interpretation of wild card characters as explicit characters. To use the percent symbol (%), underscore ( _ ) or open bracket ( [ ) as an explicit text character, enclose the character in brackets. For example, [%] matches the % character, and does not find 0 or more characters.
The close bracket ( ] ) functions as a wild card only when it is accompanied by an open bracket ( [ ). The hyphen functions as a wild card character only when preceded by an open bracket ( [ ) or ( [^ ).
In the query-by-example section, the %, underbar ( _ ), and open bracket ( [ ) symbols always function as wild card symbols except in the following scenarios where they function as explicit characters:
Note: You can override the search style specified by your AR System administrator by using a leading %. For example, if your AR System administrator specified the search style to be Equal, and you enter %Rob into the Submitter field, your search finds Robert Smith as well as Jim Robertson and not only any exact or equal matches to %Rob. However, if you use a leading %, you lose any performance gains (faster search times) that would result from using the Equal or Leading search styles. For more information about the different search styles, see Query-by-Example.
In the query bar, wild card symbols are only interpreted as wild cards when used with the LIKE operator; otherwise they are interpreted as explicit characters. The query bar also requires that you use the % symbol when you want to include leading or trailing characters in your query. For example, if you want to find all ARs submitted by Jill Bobbington, Bobby Fenton, and Bob Compton, you would enter the following in the query bar:
To execute this same query in the query-by-example section when the search style for the field is "Anywhere", you would simply enter Bob%ton in the Submitter field, taking advantage of the fact that the system assumes you want to allow for leading and/or trailing characters.
Copyright © 1996, Remedy Corporation. All rights reserved.