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Available in 23 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-23" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">23 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%81_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%84" title="أحرف البدل – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="أحرف البدل" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDol%C3%ADkov%C3%BD_znak" title="Žolíkový znak – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Žolíkový znak" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_(Informatik)" title="Wildcard (Informatik) – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Wildcard (Informatik)" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car%C3%A1cter_comod%C3%ADn" title="Carácter comodín – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Carácter comodín" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B4okero" title="Ĵokero – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Ĵokero" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%B3%D9%87_%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%DB%8C%D9%86" title="نویسه جانشین – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="نویسه جانشین" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9tacaract%C3%A8re" title="Métacaractère – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Métacaractère" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%99%80%EC%9D%BC%EB%93%9C%EC%B9%B4%EB%93%9C_%EB%AC%B8%EC%9E%90" title="와일드카드 문자 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="와일드카드 문자" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacarattere" title="Metacarattere – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Metacarattere" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lmo mw-list-item"><a href="https://lmo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacaratter" title="Metacaratter – Lombard" lang="lmo" hreflang="lmo" data-title="Metacaratter" data-language-autonym="Lombard" data-language-local-name="Lombard" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lombard</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helyettes%C3%ADt%C5%91_karakter" title="Helyettesítő karakter – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Helyettesítő karakter" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokerteken" title="Jokerteken – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Jokerteken" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB%E3%83%89%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89_(%E6%83%85%E5%A0%B1%E5%87%A6%E7%90%86)" title="ワイルドカード (情報処理) – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="ワイルドカード (情報処理)" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokertegn" title="Jokertegn – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Jokertegn" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nn mw-list-item"><a href="https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokerteikn" title="Jokerteikn – Norwegian Nynorsk" lang="nn" hreflang="nn" data-title="Jokerteikn" data-language-autonym="Norsk nynorsk" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Nynorsk" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk nynorsk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieloznacznik" title="Wieloznacznik – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Wieloznacznik" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caractere_curinga" title="Caractere curinga – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Caractere curinga" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BB_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B8" title="Символ подстановки – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Символ подстановки" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokerimerkki" title="Jokerimerkki – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Jokerimerkki" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokertecken" title="Jokertecken – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Jokertecken" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BB" title="Байдужий символ – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Байдужий символ" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%AD_t%E1%BB%B1_%C4%91%E1%BA%A1i_di%E1%BB%87n" title="Kí tự đại diện – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Kí tự đại diện" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E9%85%8D%E7%AC%A6" title="通配符 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="通配符" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q283679#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div 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.hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable selfref">For wildcard characters within the Wikipedia search engine, see <a href="/wiki/Help:Wildcard" class="mw-redirect" title="Help:Wildcard">Help:Wildcard</a>.</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-One_source plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-one_source" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>relies largely or entirely on a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_with_a_single_source" title="Wikipedia:Articles with a single source">single source</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Relevant discussion may be found on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Wildcard_character##" title="Talk:Wildcard character">talk page</a>. Please help <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">introducing citations to additional sources</a>.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Wildcard+character%22">"Wildcard character"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Wildcard+character%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Wildcard+character%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Wildcard+character%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Wildcard+character%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Wildcard+character%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">May 2016</span>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Software" title="Software">software</a>, a <b>wildcard character</b> is a kind of <b>placeholder</b> represented by a single <a href="/wiki/Character_(computing)" title="Character (computing)">character</a>, such as an <a href="/wiki/Asterisk" title="Asterisk">asterisk</a> (<code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">*</code>), which can be interpreted as a number of literal characters or an <a href="/wiki/Empty_string" title="Empty string">empty string</a>. It is often used in file searches so the full name need not be typed.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Telecommunication">Telecommunication</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Telecommunication"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Telecommunications" title="Telecommunications">telecommunications</a>, a wildcard is a character that may be substituted for any of a defined subset of all possible characters. </p> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/High-frequency" class="mw-redirect" title="High-frequency">high-frequency</a> (HF) <a href="/wiki/Radio" title="Radio">radio</a> <a href="/wiki/Automatic_link_establishment" title="Automatic link establishment">automatic link establishment</a>, the wildcard character <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">?</code> may be substituted for any one of the 36 upper-case <a href="/wiki/Alphanumeric" class="mw-redirect" title="Alphanumeric">alphanumeric</a> characters.</li> <li>Whether the wildcard character represents a single character or a <a href="/wiki/String_(computer_science)" title="String (computer science)">string</a> of characters must be specified.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Computing">Computing</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Computing"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Computer" title="Computer">computer</a> (<a href="/wiki/Software" title="Software">software</a>) technology, a wildcard is a symbol used to replace or represent zero or more characters.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Matching_wildcards" title="Matching wildcards">Algorithms for matching wildcards</a> have been developed in a number of <a href="/wiki/Recursion" title="Recursion">recursive</a> and non-recursive varieties.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="File_and_directory_patterns">File and directory patterns</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: File and directory patterns"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>When specifying file names (or paths) in <a href="/wiki/CP/M" title="CP/M">CP/M</a>, <a href="/wiki/DOS" title="DOS">DOS</a>, <a href="/wiki/Microsoft_Windows" title="Microsoft Windows">Microsoft Windows</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Unix-like" title="Unix-like">Unix-like</a> <a href="/wiki/Operating_system" title="Operating system">operating systems</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Asterisk" title="Asterisk">asterisk</a> character (<code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">*</code>, also called "star") matches zero or more characters. For example, <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">doc*</code> matches <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">doc</code> and <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">document</code> but not <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">dodo</code>. If files are named with a date stamp, wildcards can be used to match date ranges, such as <code>202411*.mp4</code> to select video recordings from November 2024, to facilitate file operations such as copying and moving. </p><p>In Unix-like and DOS operating systems, the <a href="/wiki/Question_mark" title="Question mark">question mark</a> <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">?</code> matches exactly one character. In DOS, if the question mark is placed at the end of the word, it will also match missing (zero) trailing characters; for example, the pattern <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">123?</code> will match <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">123</code> and <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">1234</code>, but not <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">12345</code>. </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Unix_shell" title="Unix shell">Unix shells</a> and <a href="/wiki/Windows_PowerShell" class="mw-redirect" title="Windows PowerShell">Windows PowerShell</a>, ranges of characters enclosed in <a href="/wiki/Square_brackets" class="mw-redirect" title="Square brackets">square brackets</a> (<code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">[</code> and <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">]</code>) match a single character within the set; for example, <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">[A-Za-z]</code> matches any single uppercase or lowercase letter. In Unix shells, a leading exclamation mark <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">!</code> negates the set and matches only a character not within the list. In shells that interpret <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">!</code> as a history substitution, a leading caret <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">^</code> can be used instead. </p><p>The operation of matching of wildcard patterns to multiple file or path names is referred to as <a href="/wiki/Glob_(programming)" title="Glob (programming)"><i>globbing</i></a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Databases">Databases</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Databases"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/SQL" title="SQL">SQL</a>, wildcard characters can be used in <a href="/wiki/Like_(SQL)" class="mw-redirect" title="Like (SQL)">LIKE</a> expressions; the <a href="/wiki/Percent" class="mw-redirect" title="Percent">percent</a> sign <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">%</code> matches zero or more characters, and <a href="/wiki/Underscore" title="Underscore">underscore</a> <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">_</code> a single character. <a href="/wiki/Transact-SQL" title="Transact-SQL">Transact-SQL</a> also supports <a href="/wiki/Square_brackets" class="mw-redirect" title="Square brackets">square brackets</a> (<code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">[</code> and <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">]</code>) to list sets and ranges of characters to match, a leading caret <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">^</code> negates the set and matches only a character not within the list. In <a href="/wiki/Microsoft_Access" title="Microsoft Access">Microsoft Access</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Asterisk" title="Asterisk">asterisk</a> sign <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">*</code> matches zero or more characters, the <a href="/wiki/Question_mark" title="Question mark">question mark</a> <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">?</code> matches a single character, the <a href="/wiki/Number_sign" title="Number sign">number sign</a> <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">#</code> matches a single digit (0–9), and square brackets can be used for sets or ranges of characters to match. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Regular_expressions">Regular expressions</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Regular expressions"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Regular_expression" title="Regular expression">regular expressions</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Full_stop" title="Full stop">period</a> (<code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">.</code>, also called "dot") is the wildcard pattern which matches any single character. Combined with the <a href="/wiki/Asterisk" title="Asterisk">asterisk</a> operator <code class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-text mw-content-ltr" style="" dir="ltr">.*</code> it will match any number of any characters. </p><p>In this case, the asterisk is also known as the <a href="/wiki/Kleene_star" title="Kleene star">Kleene star</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Glob_(programming)" title="Glob (programming)">glob (programming)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pattern_matching" title="Pattern matching">Pattern matching</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Query_by_Example" title="Query by Example">Query by Example</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wildcard_DNS_record" title="Wildcard DNS record">Wildcard DNS record</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wildmat" title="Wildmat">wildmat</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wildcard_character&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170324204434/http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/find_c_search_wildcard.mspx?mfr=true">"Using wildcard characters"</a>. <i>Microsoft</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/find_c_search_wildcard.mspx?mfr=true">the original</a> on 2017-03-24<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2018-01-23</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Microsoft&rft.atitle=Using+wildcard+characters&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fresources%2Fdocumentation%2Fwindows%2Fxp%2Fall%2Fproddocs%2Fen-us%2Ffind_c_search_wildcard.mspx%3Fmfr%3Dtrue&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWildcard+character" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/wildcard.htm">"What is a wildcard?"</a>. <i>Computer Hope</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161121171416/http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/wildcard.htm">Archived</a> from the original on 2016-11-21<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2016-11-21</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Computer+Hope&rft.atitle=What+is+a+wildcard%3F&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhope.com%2Fjargon%2Fw%2Fwildcard.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWildcard+character" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCantatore2003" class="citation web cs1">Cantatore, Alessandro (Apr 25, 2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://xoomer.virgilio.it/acantato/dev/wildcard/wildmatch.html">"Wildcard matching algorithms"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231014125822/https://xoomer.virgilio.it/acantato/dev/wildcard/wildmatch.html">Archived</a> from the original on Oct 14, 2023.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Wildcard+matching+algorithms&rft.date=2003-04-25&rft.aulast=Cantatore&rft.aufirst=Alessandro&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fxoomer.virgilio.it%2Facantato%2Fdev%2Fwildcard%2Fwildmatch.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWildcard+character" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div> <ul><li><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1041539562">.mw-parser-output .citation{word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}</style><span class="citation FS1037C MS188"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="Public Domain" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/62/PD-icon.svg/12px-PD-icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/62/PD-icon.svg/18px-PD-icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/62/PD-icon.svg/24px-PD-icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="196" data-file-height="196" /></span></span> This article incorporates <a href="/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_the_federal_government_of_the_United_States" title="Copyright status of works by the federal government of the United States">public domain material</a> from <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220122224547/https://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/fs-1037c.htm"><i>Federal Standard 1037C</i></a>. <a href="/wiki/General_Services_Administration" title="General Services Administration">General Services Administration</a>. 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