- AltaVista Search uses the asterisk
(*) wildcard as a substitute
for part of a word that you use in your search. In
specific word searches, consider the following two rules
when using the AltaVista Search wildcard:
- The wildcard must follow at least the first three
characters of the keyword in your search. For example,
suppose you want to search for several maritime terms
such as sailing, sailor, and sailboat. Your search might
look like this:
sail*.
- The wildcard can substitute for only up to five
unknown lowercase characters.
- Another way to use a wildcard is to replace entire
words to search for a phrase. If you can't remember the
exact words of a quote, simply include the wildcard in
place of a word or a series of words, and the search will
find all of the options.
- You can also use the AltaVista Search wildcard to
broaden a search for spelling variations. For instance,
the query
colo*r will
retrieve documents with "color" and "colour."
- Wildcards are also excellent substitutes for various
file extensions. For example, document files include the
extensions "rtf." "txt," and "doc." In a normal search,
you'd have to search for each file type separately, but
with a wildcard, you can search for all of these document
file types at the same time.
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