Pattern Matching

This Design Search Code Manual includes a pattern matching option that may be used for searching spelling variations. You can use preset patterns to specify which characters should be substituted for your search, or you can specify the specific character patterns to substitute for your search. For your search, enclose the character patterns within braces { and }. For example, the preset pattern V represents the vowels A, E, I, O, U or Y. The search H{V}T will search the for all occurrences of HAT, HET, HIT, HOT, HUT or HYT.

PRESET PATTERN	CONTENTS
A	The alphabet characters A through Z.
C	The consonants (the letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y and Z).
D	The decimal digits 0 through 9.
E	The even digits 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8.
M	The mixed set of characters A through Z and digits 0 through 9.
O	The odd digits 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9. (Use the letter O, not the digit 0.)
V	The vowels A, E, I, O, U, or Y.

The $ and ? truncation operators may be used with a character class in a search statement. Place the truncation operator outside the pattern delimiters, such as {A}$ to search for any letter (A-Z) followed by anything.

The exclamation point (!) can be used with preset patterns to exclude that preset pattern from your search. The search A{!D}, for example, will search for the letter A followed by any character other than the digits 0 through 9.

Multiple occurrences of a preset pattern might be specified within the { } delimiters by appending a count after the preset pattern or by repeating the preset pattern. The searches H{V,V}T and H{V2}T are equivalent and should retrieve all records containing the letter H followed by two vowels followed by the letter T, such as HEAT or HOOT but not HALT.

You can combine preset patterns with the plus sign (+). For example, the search DOG{A+O} will search for DOG followed by either a letter (A-Z) or an odd digit.

A preset pattern followed by a number searches for a string of that many occurrences of the preset pattern. For example, the search {D5} will search for strings of 5 consecutive digits. Alternative, use a colon (:) to specify the run length for the operator. For example, the search {D:6} will find any six character strings of digits, or the search {A4:6} will find any string of four to six letters of the range A to Z. The search CPS{M0:1} will find words beginning with the three characters CPS and having either none or one character (alpha or digit) following the S.

You may designate the particular characters that should occur within the braces. For example, a search for TE{"ckxq"}$ will return records with words beginning with the letters TE immediately followed by the letters "c", "k", "x" or "q" with those characters followed by any number or zero characters, such as technology, texture, tech, tecs, and many other variations.

Return to main help page.