Category Component 25.4
Category Component Help

# Wildcards in Query Text

You can use Wildcards in the `Text` parameter of the `Query` action.

You can use the `Text` action parameter to specify field restrictions for result documents, as long as the fields that you restrict results to are Index fields in the Content component. If you match fields, you can use Wildcards and match multiple fields simultaneously by separating them with colons.

Related Topics

- Set up the Field Index Process

## Example Wildcard Queries

The following examples demonstrate how to use Wildcards in query text.

Example 1

    action=Query&Text=Mi?rotech

This query returns documents that contain the term Mikrotech or Microtech.

Example 2

    action=Query&Text="Co*ins":Name:Author+Arm?dale:Title

This query returns documents that contain a `Name` or `Author` field whose value matches the Wildcard string `Co*ins` (for example, Collins) and documents that contain a `Title` field whose value matches the Wildcard string `Arm?dale` (for example Armadale).

Example 3

Consider the following scenarios:

A. The Content component has two indexed documents. One document contains the word rollerskating, and the other contains the word rollerskaters (both of which stem to ROLLERSK).

B. The Content component has only one indexed document. It contains the word rollerskater (which also stems to ROLLERSK).

- Send the following query:

      action=Query&Text=rollersk*

  This query returns all documents that contain any terms that stem to ROLLERSK. It returns both documents in situation A and the one document in situation B.

- Send the following query:

      action=Query&Text=rollerskatin*

  A Wildcard query returns documents only if the Content index contains one or more matches to the Wildcard value. If the term matches, it is then stemmed, and all occurrences of the stem (in any document) are also considered matches.

  Therefore, this query returns both documents in situation A (because `rollerskatin*` matches rollerskating, and because it stems to ROLLERSK, which has matches in both documents). It does not return the document in situation B (because `rollerskatin*` does not match rollerskater).

- Send the following query when the `AdvancedSearch` configuration parameter is set to `True`:

      action=Query&Text="rollerskatin*"

  This query returns documents that contain the Wildcard term. However, because `AdvancedSearch` is enabled and the Wildcard term is in quotation marks, this query does not return any further terms that match the stem of the expanded Wildcard term.

  Therefore, with this query, only the rollerskating document returns in situation A, and no document returns in situation B.

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Version 25.4 | Last updated October 2025

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Product: Knowledge Discovery Category Component 25.4

Topic Title: Wildcards in Query Text