Congressional Quarterly

Search Operators

Wildcards

• ? Question. Specifies any single alphanumeric character.
• * Asterisk. Specifies zero or more alphanumeric characters. Avoid using the asterisk as the first character in a search string. Asterisk is ignored in a set, [] or an alternative pattern {}.
• [] Square brackets. Specifies one of any character in a set, as in "sl[iau]m" which locates "slim," "slam," and "slum." Square brackets indicate an implied OR.
• {} Curly braces. Specifies one of each pattern separated by a comma, as in "hoist{s, ing, ed}" which locates "hoists," "hoisting," and "hoisted." Curly braces indicate an implied AND.
• ^ Caret. Specifies one of any character not in the set as in "sl[^ia]m" which locates "slum" but not "slim" or "slam."
• - Hyphen. Specifies a range of characters in a set as in "c[a-r]t" which locates every word beginning with "c," ending with "t," and containing any letter from "a" to "r."

The following non-alphanumeric characters must be preceded by a backslash character (\) in a search string:

• comma (,)
• left and right parentheses ()
• double quotation mark (")
• backslash (\)
• at sign (@)
• left curly brace ({)
• left bracket ([)
• less than sign (<)
• backquote (`)

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