Truncation

Introduction

A search term does not always have to be entered in its complete form. A special character (wildcard) is used to replace one or more characters in a word. This is very useful when the spelling of a given search key varies.

Symbols to use (wildcards)

• * : no character or several characters
• $ : no character or one character

Search terms may be truncated from left or right, or from the middle of the word. See also the examples below. Via Guided search only right truncation is availabe when title search is used.

Examples

• Left truncation: *management > management , mismanagement etc.
• Middle truncation:
  • colo$r > color, colour
  • an*ity> anonymity, animosity, etc.
• Right truncation:
  • vehic* > vehicle, vehicles, vehicular, etc.
  • rocket$ > rocket, rockets
• Combinations:
  • *card$ > card, cards, chipcard, chipcards, etc.
  • Jans$en$ > Jansen, Janszen, Jansens, Janssen, Janssens
  • colo$r* > color, colour, colorless, colourless, coloring, colouring, etc.

Find out more about using wildcards when searching by author names