Wildcard Characters
The Characters
The following generic symbols can be used:
Symbol |
Description |
* |
0...n any character (= any character string, possibly blanks) |
+ |
any character |
# |
escape symbol, which must be used if you want the following character to be interpreted ‘literally’ |
The following table shows examples of wildcard character usage. If the entries in fields are interpreted differently in some cases (or due to technical restrictions), these are specified.
Entry |
Case* |
produces |
Examples |
A* |
always |
A... |
A1, AB, ABCDE, A1B2C3 |
AB* |
always |
AB... |
AB0, ABC, ABCDEF, AB12345 |
A*B |
always |
A...B |
A1B, AXYZB, AB |
*B |
always |
...B |
B, AB, 123456789B |
A+C* |
always |
A.C... |
ABCD, AACCDD, A1C3 |
A#*C* |
always |
A*C... |
A*CA, A*CB |
* |
always |
all |
|
<string> |
case 1 |
all |
|
or |
<string> |
<string> |
|
Blank |
case 1+2 |
all |
|
|
or |
blank |
blank | |
# |
always |
blank |
blank |
*) Cases 1 and 2 see below.
Case 1: Searching for possible entries (no matchcode)
The generic search behaviour of input help differs in the cases "<string> or nothing (blank) from that in other application areas. This special procedure was chosen because the existing entries in a field usually have no relevance for input help. Often the user triggers the F4 search to correct a previously made entry.
Case 2: Report selection screens
The "*" character cannot be used with type P fields. To be consistent with other fields, the blank character for "Select all" is used on report selection screens.
Using Special Characters in Object Names
The applications should try to restrict the use of "*" and other special characters in names (for example, the name "A*" should not be allowed for a document).
Escape symbol #
If you have to use "*"in names, you can address objects containing this character with the escape symbol "#":
Entry: A#*30 for object name: A*30
Blanks
If an input field explicitly requires entry of a blank character, the user cannot enter this, because it cannot be distinguished from the blank character used for the "Select all" search. In this case, the escape symbol is to be used.
Reason: This entry applies to one-character input fields, but cannot be distinguished from the correct character string "#_" with multiple-character fields. ("_"= blank character).
In the case of generic entries with an escape symbol, the input field may not be long enough. If such entries are expected, a scrollable input field should be defined as of Release 3.0. The visible length of the scrollable field corresponds to the length of the non-generic entry.