wild cards

wild cards

Symbols used to represent any value when selecting specific files. In DOS, Windows and Unix, the asterisk (*) represents any collection of characters, and the question mark (?) represents one single character. In SQL, the percent sign (%) and underscore (_) are used for matching text. Note the following examples:

  DOS and Windows (case insensitive)

  *.gif    Files with ".gif" or ".GIF" extensions
  a*.gif   GIF files beginning with "a" or "A"
  boot.*   All files named "boot" or "BOOT"
  *.d*     File extensions starting with "d" or "D"

  ?abc     Files such as 1ABC, 2ABC, etc.
  ??abc    Files such as 10ABC, XXABC, etc.


  Windows only (case insensitive)

  *t.jpg   All JPEG files ending with "T"


  Unix only (case sensitive)

  *.jpg    Files ending in ".jpg"
  *.JPG    Files ending in ".JPG"
  a*.jpg   JPEG files starting with "a"
  A*.jpg   JPEG files starting with "A"
  boot.*   All files named "boot"
  BOOT.*   All files named "BOOT"

  ?abc     Files such as 1abc, 2abc, etc.
  ??ABC    Files such as 10ABC, XXABC, etc.


  SQL
  Good%    Names starting with "Good"
  _bcd     Names starting with any character
            followed by "bcd"