wildcard

The wildcard operator allows you to substitute wildcard characters for part of the item for which you are searching. Table 5-5 describes the wildcard characters and their attributes.

Table 5-5: Full-Text Search engine wildcard characters

Character

Function

Syntax

Locates

?

Specifies one alphanumeric character. You do not need to include the wildcard operator when you include the question mark in your query. The question mark is ignored in a set ([]) or in an alternative pattern ({}).

’?an’

“ran,” “pan,” “can,” and “ban”

*

Specifies zero or more of any alphanumeric character. You do not need to include the wildcard operator when you include the asterisk in your query; you should not use the asterisk to specify the first character of a wildcard-character string. The asterisk is ignored in a set ([]) or in an alternative pattern ({}).

’corp*’

“corporate,” “corporation,” “corporal,” and “corpulent”

[]

Specifies any single character in a set. If a word includes a set, you must enclose the word in backquotes (‘‘). Also, there can be no spaces in a set.

<wildcard> ‘c[auo]t‘

“cat,” “cut,” and “cot”

{}

Specifies one of each pattern separated by a comma. If a word includes a pattern, you must enclose the word in backquotes (‘‘). Also, there can be no spaces in a set.

<wildcard> ‘bank{s,er,ing}‘

“banks,” “banker,” and “banking”

^

Specifies one of any character not included in a set. The caret (^) must be the first character after the left bracket ([) that introduces a set.

<wildcard> ‘st[^oa]ck‘

Excludes “stock” and “stack,” but locates “stick” and “stuck”

-

Specifies a range of characters in a set.

<wildcard> ‘c[a-r]t‘

Includes every three-letter word from “cat” to “crt”

To relevance-rank the result set, include the many modifier in the query (see “Operator Modifiers”).

For example, the following query searches for documents that include variations of the word “slingshot”:

select t2.copy
from i_blurbs t1, blurbs t2
where t1.id=t2.id 
and t1.index_any = ’"slingshot*"’
score    copy
-----    -----------------------------------------------------------
100    Albert Ringer was born in a trunk to circus parents, but
    another kind of circus trunk played a more important role
    . . .
    gorilla.  “Slingshotting” himself from the ring ropes, 
    . . .