Category Component 26.3
Category Component Help

# Wildcards in FieldText Queries

If you use a `Query`, `Suggest`, or `SuggestOnText` action to send a FieldText query to the Content component (by using the `FieldText` action parameter), you can use Wildcards to match a single string or to match multiple strings.

NOTE: To identify the fields, use the format `/FieldName` to match root-level fields, `*/FieldName` to match all fields except root-level, or `/Path/FieldName` to match fields that the specified path points to.

All string matching is case insensitive.

## Matches for One or More Strings

The field specifier `WILD` allows you to Wildcard match:

- one or more strings

- one or more strings that consist of several words

- one or more strings that contain punctuation

- one or more strings that consist of several words and punctuation

Strings can contain punctuation (except braces), which means that if you want to match a string that contains HTML with Content, percent-encode the HTML to avoid confusion with ampersands (&) and so on.

To match a string that contains a comma, percent-encode the comma as `%2C`, otherwise Content reads it as a separator.

You can match multiple fields simultaneously by separating them with colons.

Examples:

    action=Query&FieldText=WILD{wom?n }:Clothes

The `Clothes` field must contain a word that matches the specified Wildcard string (for example, woman or women) for the document to return as a result.

    action=Query&FieldText=WILD{of mice and m?n}:Title:Book

The `Title` or `Book` field must contain a string that matches the specified Wildcard string (for example, of mice and man or of mice and men) for the document to return as a result.

    action=Query&FieldText=WILD{Glory is fleeting\, but * is forever}:QuotesNapoleon

The `QuotesNapoleon` field must contain a string that matches the specified Wildcard string (for example, Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever) for the document to return as a result.

    action=Query&FieldText=WILD{*.html,*.htm}:URL

The `URL` field value must end with .html or .htm for the document to return as a result.

    action=Query&FieldText=WILD{passi*incarnata}:Climbers

The `Climbers` field must contain a phrase that begins with passi and ends with incarnata (for example, passionflower incarnata or passiflora incarnata) for the document to return as a result.

    action=Query&FieldText=WILD{ passi*incarnata,passi*alata*}:Climbers

The `Climbers` field must contain a string that matches one of the specified Wildcard strings (for example, passionflower incarnata, passiflora incarnata, passionflower alata, passiflora alata, passionflower alata shannon, or passiflora alata shannon) for the document to return as a result.

    action=Query&FieldText=WILD{*www.example.com*.txt,*www.example.com*.pdf}:PATH:URL

The `PATH` or `URL` field must contain a path that contains www.example.com and ends with .txt or .pdf (for example, http://www.example.com/files/doc.txt or http://www.example.com/fields/technicalbrief.pdf) for this document to return as a result.

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Version 26.3 | Last updated July 2026

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Product: Knowledge Discovery Category Component 26.3

Topic Title: Wildcards in FieldText Queries