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Wildcards

Wildcards represent unknown characters. They are valid only in English-language search queries.

• The asterisk (*) represents any group of characters, including no character.

• The question mark (?) represents any single character.

• 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.

• 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.

• You cannot use wildcards after special characters (/ @ #) and punctuation (. , : ; !).

• You cannot use wildcards in a publication year search. For example, 2007 is acceptable but 200* is not.

• 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.

• 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

• You can use left-hand truncation in the following search fields in all Web of Science product databases: Topic, Title, and Identifying Codes.

• 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.

• In 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:

• TS=hydro-power returns records that contain the terms hydro-power and hydro power.

• TS=hydro*power returns records that contain the terms hydropower and hydroelectricpower.

• 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

• The dollar sign ($) is useful for finding both the British and American spellings of the same word. For example, flavo$r finds flavor and flavour.

• The question mark (?) is useful for searching last names of authors where the last character is uncertain. For example, Barthold? finds Bartholdi and Bartholdy. It will not find Barthold.

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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