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Wildcards
Wildcards represent unknown characters. They are valid only in
English-language search queries.
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The asterisk (*) represents any group of characters, including no character.
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The question mark (?) represents any single character.
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The dollar sign ($) represents zero or one character.
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Right-Hand and Internal Truncation
- At least three characters must precede the wildcard in Title and Topic
searches. For example, zeo* is acceptable but
ze* is not.
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Wildcards may be used inside a word. For example, odo$r
finds odor and odour.
- You may use different wildcards in one term: l?chee$
matches lichee, lichees, lychee, lychees.
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You cannot use wildcards after special characters (/ @ #) and punctuation (.
, : ; !).
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You cannot use wildcards in a publication year search. For example,
2007 is acceptable but 200* is not.
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You cannot search on a wildcard if it appears in a word or name. For example,
the search TS=E*Trade OR TS="E*Trade" will not return records
about the company called E*Trade.
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Avoid using wildcards in search queries with very broad truncation matches.
For example, a search on UT=*2 or UT=*2* or
UT=*22 or UT=*22* may return incomplete
results (or no results) because there are simply too many matches.
Left-Hand Truncation
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You can use left-hand truncation in the following search fields in all
Web of Science product databases: Topic, Title, Accession Number, and
Identifying Codes.
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In Topic and Title searches, you must enter at least three characters after
the wildcard when using left-hand truncation. For example: *bio
- Left-hand truncation is not supported in Author and Cited Author searches.
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In Accession Number and Identifying Code searches, you must enter at least
one character after the wildcard when using left-hand truncation. For example:
*2307
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Wildcards, Hyphens, and Apostrophes
The search engine treats hyphens (-) and apostrophes (') in names as spaces.
For example:
AU=O Brien returns the same number of results as
AU=O'Brien.
Try searching for names with and without a space. For example,
AU=OBrien OR AU=O Brien returns both variants
of the name.
When searching for hyphenated query terms, enter the term with and without
wildcards. For example:
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TS=hydro-power returns records that contain the terms
hydro-power and hydro power.
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TS=hydro*power returns records that contain the terms
hydropower and hydroelectricpower.
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TS=hydro power returns records that contain the terms hydro
and power anywhere in the record, such as hydro-power, hydro-electrical power,
and hydro-mechanical power.
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Useful Tips
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Asterisk (*) Examples
s*food matches:
seafood
soyfood
enzym* matches:
enzyme
enzymes
enzymatic
enzymic
Hof*man* matches:
Hofman
Hofmann
Hoffman
Hoffmann
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Question Mark (?) Example
wom?n matches:
woman
women
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Dollar Sign ($) Examples
colo$r matches:
color
colour
grain$ matches:
grain
grains
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Multi-wildcard Example
organi?ation* matches:
organisation
organisations
organisational
organization
organizations
organizational
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