Wildcards

When using Word or String searches, the following wildcards may be used to substitute for character(s) in a string.

Wildcard	Description
%	A substitute for zero or more characters
_	A substitute for a single character

 

Examples

Under the Word search, for example, which looks for whole words (for more information see the Context Word and String Search help guide), the search v_v_r searches for whole words beginning with v and ending with r with a medial v, separated by a single character each: for example, vivir, vevir, vever etc.

Or the search ca_allo will generate results with orthographic variants caballo, cauallo, cavallo.

Or rosad_ will show all singular forms of the adjective: i.e., rosado, rosada.

Or rosad% will look for all words beginning with rosad- : i.e., rosado, rosada, rosados, rosadas, rosaditos, etc.

Or tu%e will produce all whole words beginning with tu and ending with e.: i.e., tuve, túvose, tuviere, etc.

Under a String search, on the other hand, which looks for a pattern of characters in any context (for more information see the Context Word and String Search help guide), the search for v_v_r searches for the characters, with any number of characters before or after v and r, separated by a single character each: for example, vyvirían, vevir, vivero, vever, avivarse, vívoras, etc.

Or by placing a space before or after the string, the user can define word-initial or final position. The search “ fue_e”, with initial space, finds results for words beginning with fue and containing an e: e.g., fuese, fuesen, fuere, fueren, fue en, etc. It must remember that String searches run across word boundaries, thus the two words fue en fit the search criteria: beginning with fue, followed by a single character (in this case a space) and an e. The user must formulate the use of wildcards carefully and can use the filter function to search the results for specific words (see the help guide on Filtering and Exporting Search Data for more information on how to filter searches).

The ability to search across word boundaries makes the String search useful for finding locutions and multi-word phrases as well as to run basic proximity searches. For example, the user can use the String search with the % wildcard to find words within an undefined number of characters of each other. The String search “labio%rojo” will bring up, for example, all instances of labio(s) followed by rojo(s), with any number of characters between the two words. Or flor%rosad will find flor followed by some form of rosado, such as:

• [1866 Bogotá] las flores entre rosadas i blancas del amé [MCC 2, 201]
• [1935 México] flor amarilla o rosada que denominan primavera o maravilla [VUC 282]
• [1943 Salvador] madrecacao: árbol leguminoso, especie de guamo, que da flores rosadas y se planta para dar sombra a los cafetales [SAC 292]
• [1943 Salvador] mulato: árbol de grandes dimensiones, que da una flor rosada [SAC 293]

See the help guide Context Word and String Search for more examples of how wildcards can be used with searches.