Advanced Search Techniques: Wildcards & Masking
Wildcard symbols are used for masking a string of characters in your search term. Masking is useful when a word has different spellings, is hyphenated, if you are uncertain about the spelling, and for capturing plurals or specific endings.
humo#r = humor, humour
Use # for alternative spellings within a word
birth! = birth, births BUT NOT birthdays, birthing
Use ! for one character
facilit!!! = facility, facilities BUT NOT facilitation
Use one ! per character
These symbols can be used in MN-CAT Plus as well as many of the article databases at the U. Some databases assign a different symbol so be sure to check each database as you search.
Click here to go to MN-CAT Plus and try out these search techniques.