Wildcard Characters

Most dialog boxes and command line entries support the following wildcard characters.

These wildcard characters can be used in object data queries and property queries. To use wildcard characters in SQL queries, refer to your database software for a list of supported characters.

Wildcard Description
# (pound) Matches any numeric digit.
@ (at) Matches any alphabetic character.
. (period) Matches any nonalphanumeric character.
* (asterisk) or % (percent) Matches any string, including the null string. It can be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a string.
? (question mark) Matches any single character.
~ (tilde) Matches anything but the next pattern.
[ ] (brackets) Matches any one of the characters enclosed.
[~ ] (tilde and brackets) Matches any character not enclosed.
- (hyphen) Specifies a range for a single character when inside brackets.
' (reverse quote) Escape character; reads the next character literally.
, (comma) Enters a set when used between items.
Note:

Most AutoCAD Map 3D commands are wildcard character-enabled. To use a wildcard character as a literal character, precede the wildcard character with a back quote (`). For example, if you have a layer named "Floor Plan #1," from which you want to query some objects, type Floor Plan `#1 when you create the query. If you select the name from a list box, the back quote is added automatically to the text that appears in any corresponding edit box. The wildcard characters for which this is valid include #, @, .(period), ~.