Using Wildcards and Operators

About Wildcards and Operators

Wildcards, such as * or ?, and logical operators, such as AND (&) and OR (|), are used extensively in Standard Search. These operators or wildcards narrow the search, decreasing search time. When a database contains a large amount of data, a global search with no specific conditions can slow the system, resulting in a long search time, and many unnecessary results. Therefore, wildcards and logical operators can help you save time and improve your search results.

In the Standard Search feature, you can enter a value or a portion of the value for a property using wildcards. These wild card characters are valid for Standard Search:

  • ? (question mark) - use this to represent one character. For example,
  • * (asterisk) - use this to represent one or more characters. For example, if you know that an item number starts with AB, enter AB*. All items that start with AB are displayed.

Searches can be refined using relational operators such as AND (&), OR (|), and NOT (!). These operators allow you to search for multiple values for the same property, or to specify what not to include in a search. These are some of the relational operators that are valid for Standard Search:

  • | (the pipe - relational OR operator) - use this to have CES search for one term or another. For example, if you know that an item number starts with AB or BA, enter AB*|BA*. All item numbers that start with AB or BA are displayed.
  • ! (the exclamation point - relational operator NOT) - use this to search for an item that does not contain one or more characters. For example, if you know that an item number does not start with A, enter !A*. All item numbers that start with letters other than A are displayed.
  • & (the ampersand - relational operator AND) - use this to search for items that contains two or more groups of characters. For example, if you know that an item number starts with A, but also contains 123, enter A*&*123. All item numbers that contain A and 123 are displayed.

When Using Wildcards and Operators

Wildcards

When searching for items using wildcards, consider the following examples:

To search for... Enter...
An item AB123 AB123
An item number that starts with "AB", for example, ABC or AB123 AB*
An item number that ends with "2345", for example, 12345 and ABC12345 *2345
An item number that contains "AB" anywhere in the string *AB*
An item number that starts with "H" or "I" H* | I*
An item number starts with "AB" and ends with a single variable character, for example, ABC, ABB, and ABD AB?
An item number ends with "BC" and starts with a single variable character, for example ABC, BBC, and CBC ?BC
An item number that starts with "A: and ends with "C" and contains a single variable character, for example ABC, AAC or ACC A?C
An item number starting with "A", and containing "123" A* & *123*
An item number starts with "A" and ends with two variable characters, for example AAC, ABC or ACC. A??
An item number that ends in "C" and beings with two variable characters, for example, ABC, ACC, or ADC ??C
An item number that contains "B" and begins and ends with a variable character, for example ABC, CBA, ABB, or BBA ?B?

Note: The asterisk "*" cannot be used alone to have Standard Search look for a single character. Using a single asterisk for an attribute value will result in a list of all items.

Relational Operators

The following table lists the relational operators valid for Standard Search. You can combine wildcards and relational operators when searching.

Operator Definition Example
> Greater than >20
>= Greater than or equal to >=20
< Lesser than <20
<= Less than or equal to <=20
!= Equal =20
: Inclusive range 20:30
! NOT !20:30
& AND >30 & <35
| OR 30|40
() Groupings (20:30) | (30:40)
@ NULL @
!@ NOT NULL ~@

Special Characters

Special characters, many of which serve as wildcards or relational operators, may be contained in attribute values. For example, Flint & Company may be a manufacturer name. In this case the & character does not represent a relational operator, but is actually part of the name. Likewise, you may have an item number that includes brackets, such as 505[000]. To search for these correctly, you either have to place a backslash (\) character before the special character, or enclose the search string containing the special character in double quotes, so that the character is interpreted correctly.  The following table provides a couple of examples:

To search for... Enter...
A Company named "Flint & Company" "Flint & Company"
An item number "505[000]" 505\[000\]

This table lists all the characters that require special handling in Standard Search:

Character Definition
< Less than
> Greater Than
[ Open bracket
] Close bracket
& Ampersand
= Equal
: Colon
| Pipe
! Exclamation mark
* Asterisk
, Comma
\ Black slash
" Double quotes
( Open parentheses
) Close parentheses
@ At
? Question mark
= Equal sign

Date Searches

You can search on date properties using most of the same operators you use for numeric searches. When you enter a date, you must use the exact date format that is specified. For example, if you are using the date format DD-MON-YY, you must enter the full date to get the search results.

You also need to specify a wildcard attribute at the end of the search string if the date format includes the time. Thus, if you want to search all items with a date field that matches March 4, 2001, you can enter 04-Mar-01* to get the search results.

You can also use operators such as, greater than (>) and, less than (<) to specify a range of dates. In this instance, wildcards are not necessary because you are not looking for an exact match. For example, to search for all items that fall between February 1, 2001, and February 28, 2001, enter > 01-FEB-01 & < 28-FEB-01. The only operator you cannot use is the range (:).

Dates are not case-sensitive.

How to Use Wildcards and Operators

This task explains how to obtain search results using wildcards and operators:
This example assumes that a database including manufacturer information exists and is accessed by CATIA Client.
  1. Start CATIA. Login to ENOVIA V5 VPM and CES. For more information on logging in, refer to Logging in to ENOVIA V5 VPM in CATIA and Accessing CES Functionality.

  2. Click the Search CES Database button. The Sourcing Search window appears. The top portion of the window contains the Sourcing Search Criteria and the Simple and Standard tabs. The bottom portion contains the Category Browser, a graphical representation of the categories of information that are available, and the Attribute Based Category Search. You can use the Category Browser to narrow your search by selecting one of the category "nodes" in which to search. For more information, refer to Category Browser. You can use the Attribute Base Category Search, located on the List View tab to locate categories based on attribute name and category name. For more information, refer to Attribute Base Category Search.




  3. On the Standard Search tab. Select Supplemental Information in the Search From: dropdown list, select Items - Internal in the Type: dropdown list, and select All Items in the Search Form: dropdown list. Enter  *R18* | *NCI* (use  appropriate letters for your database) in the Internal Item No attribute and click OK. This example uses both a wildcard and a relational operator to find all Internal items numbers that contain R18 or NCI. The Sourcing Search Results window appears. Notice that in the Internal Item No column the entries all contain "R18" or "NCI".


Sourcing Search Window

This table describes the fields displayed in the Sourcing Search window and the Standard Search tab of the Sourcing Search window.

Fields Description

Search From

Category of data to search.

Type

Type of item for which to search.

Search Form

Type of information to view in the Search Results. Possible values are:

  • All Items:  Include information on the manufacturer item, supplier item and internal item. This includes Manufacturer Item Number, Manufacturer Item Description, Supplier Item Number, Internal Item Number, Price, Currency Code, and other information.
  • Manufacturers Content:  Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains only manufacturer specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains supplier specific content and some manufacturer specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains internal item specific content and some manufacturer specific content.
  • Suppliers Content: Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains manufacturer specific content and some supplier specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains only supplier specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains internal item specific content and some supplier specific content.
  • Internal Content: Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains manufacturer specific content and some internal item specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains supplier specific content and some internal item specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains only internal item specific content.

Project

Projects in which to search. This field is enabled only if the Type: dropdown list is set to Items - Internal. Possible values:

  • Current Project: Search the project you are working on.

  • All Projects: Search all projects.

Revision

Revisions in which to search. This field is enabled only if the Type: dropdown list is set to Items - Internal. Possible values:

  • Current Revision: Search the current revision.

  • All Revisions: Search all revisions.

Attribute search fields

Value to search for, for the respective attribute. These fields vary depending on what you have selected in the For: dropdown list and the Search View dropdown list. The list of attributes also changes if you click the Show Additional Properties button.

Load Search

Name of the saved search to load.

Show Count

Check this box to have the number of items in each category displayed after the category name in the Category Browser.

This table describes the buttons displayed in the Sourcing Search window and the Standard Search tab of the Sourcing Search window:

Button Description

Clear All

Click this to clear the keyword field.

Show Additional Properties

Display other attributes for the selected item type. You can set these attributes as well to further narrow your search. Please note that when you click on the Show Additional Properties button, the Additional Properties : section appears in the Sourcing Search window and the Show Additional Properties button is changed to Hide Additional Properties.

Save Search

Save current search criteria for later use.

Manage Searches

Load, delete, or rename saved searches.

OK

Click this to execute the search command, and get search results for items or companies.

Apply

Applies the category selected in the Category Browser to the list of criteria in the search window, without closing the search window.

Close

Click this to close the window without performing the search.