# Wildcards | Top Previous Next

Wildcard expressions use the familiar wildcards * and ? to specify groups of files, e.g. *.pdf to specify a group of files with the PDF extension. However, FileLocator Pro extends the normal Wildcard functionality with some additional special characters:
Character | Description |  | Example
* | Matches zero or more characters |  | Tower*London - file/folder with Tower followed by London in their name.
? | Matches any single character |  | *.as?x - files with a four letter extensions that begin with AS and end X, e.g. Page.aspx or Home.ascx.
< | Start of file indicator |  | <New - file/folder must begin with New, eg. New York Trip.txt but not My New Recipes.
> | End of file indicator |  | LA> - file/folder must end in LA, eg. Parks in LA OR Details.SLA but not LAMP.
; | Expands search by adding another allowable name/group |  | *.pdf;*.txt;*.doc - files with PDF, TXT and DOC extension.
: | Restricts search to only those with a specified name/group |  | *.pdf;*.doc:London - PDF or DOC files that have London in their name.
NOT: | Excludes a name/group from the search |  | NOT:*.dll;*.exe;*.sys - all files except DLL, EXE, and SYS files
| | Concatenate multiple search expressions |  | *.pdf:London|*.txt:Tower - PDF files with London in their name OR TXT files with Tower in their name.
" | Used to either quote semi-colon ';' character or specify word boundary |  | "LA" - file/folder with the word LA in their name, eg. LA Flight details.txt but not LAMP.txt.
Note: In earlier versions of the product Wildcard expressions used to be referred to as DOS Expressions. More Examples
Searching For | Wildcard Expression
Files/folders without any extension | *.
Only files/folders with the specific name Area | <area>
PNG, JPG, or BMP files with the word France in them | *.png;*.jpg;*.bmp:France
MP3 files with the word Rolling AND Stone in them | *.mp3:Rolling:Stone
PDF files with either the word London OR Tower in them | *.pdf:London;Tower
All files that are not EXE or DLL files with the word Flower in the name | NOT:*.exe;*.dll:Flower
Any TXT file with a semi-colon in it | "*;*.txt"

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Help file version: 9.0
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